Duarte laments ‘disgusting’ consequences of suspension letter to Ace

ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte wants to be left alone to do her work and not subjected to vile, misogynist and racists taunts and threats, such as those which followed her letter to Ace Magashule confirming his suspension as party secretary-general.

At a briefing yesterday, Duarte said she did not want to talk about what she was subjected to, although she said it disturbed her and she had taken her concerns to the ANC national executive committee (NEC), which had supported her.

She said she would do her work and carry out the mandate she was given.

ALSO READ: ‘We have a cash flow problem’, admits Duarte

“The kind of threats were very misogynistic, very racist, which is unfortunate. The kind of things people say on Twitter is disgusting. There is no other way to describe what people say on Facebook and Twitter,” Duarte said.

It was unfortunate that there was no recourse for her except to report to Twitter or Facebook, which is was what she did.

She said there had been several phone calls from a particular number which, when she checked it out, was found to not have been registered in terms of the government’s Rica [Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act].

“I am very worried about that because we are supposed to Rica every number. This particular number is not Rica’ed and that was the most unacceptable thing.

“But I don’t want to make this about myself, I have been tasked with a job; I work with a collective. I have never worked as an individual. I will never work without consultation and I will never act on my own.

“We will defend the constitution and the resolutions of the ANC and implement those that need to be implemented and the decisions of the NEC without fear or favour and I hope that will be understood by everyone,” Duarte said.

She also revealed to journalists that the ANC was experiencing cash-flow problems. For the first time, the governing party conceded publicly that it had no money and that funding from donors had dried up.

Duarte said ANC funders had pulled out and that is the reason the governing party was struggling to make ends meet.

“We are struggling. When we say we are broke, I mean we have nothing. We have a cash-flow problem because the funders that we traditionally relied on have stepped back,” Duarte said.

She said since the April deadline for funders to make themselves known about who they financed, funders retreated and withdrew their support of the ruling party.

“They don’t want it to be known that they fund the ANC because they believe that might be bad for business. Let’s put it bluntly – it was good for business at the time but no longer.”

Duarte stressed that it was the ANC that asked for the political party funding legislation.

“There is talk that we are against it, but we asked for it. We knew that there would be consequences,” she said.

“I don’t think the ANC is going to cave in because of that. We will find ways to survive legally, above board.”

She said the planned retrenchment of 50% of ANC staff was “sensationalised” by the media.

The retrenchments wouldn’t be done “willy-nilly” but processes would be followed and it would be done legally and in a fair and just manner.

ericn@citizen.co.za