Magashule claims he was nominated for ANC NEC, but disqualified from standing

Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule claims he was nominated as a candidate for the governing party’s national executive committee (NEC) between national conferences, but was disqualified from the list of the top 200 NEC additional members.

Step-aside rule

“I have records that this Wednesday I received a letter from the ANC which said I had been nominated to be in the NEC.

“And I asked if I’m nominated why I did not appear in the list of 200 [NEC additional members]. I asked if they have rigged the list and what is happening,” he said.

Magashule made the remarks on Friday outside the ANC’s 55th national conference at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, where disgruntled members of the now-disbanded uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) protested a few metres outside the conference venue, calling for the reinstatement of the structure.

Magashule was supended from the governing party last year, in line with its step-aside rule, after he was criminally charged in connection with a multimillion-rand Free State asbestos tender.

Due to the step aiside rule, he is not allowed to take part in ANC activities, including the national conference.

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Nomination form

Magashule said he received a nomination form for the NEC from the ANC’s electoral committee, headed by former president Kgalema Motlanthe.

But after signing and accepting nomination for the NEC, the electoral committee got back to him on Thursday, informing him that he did not qualifty to be on the ANC’s top national structure due to his corruption charges.

Magashule claims the electoral committee disqualified him from standing after it carried out a vetting process.

He said he was surprised by the nomination form, because the committee should have known about his corruption charges.

“I received a letter that after vetting processes; I don’t qualifty to stand even though they know I have been charged.”

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Delayed start of conference

The ANC’s national conference, which will elect new leaders on Saturday, was yet to offically get underway in Nasrec due to several dalays marring the gathering.

ANC delegates were still arriving at the conference venue on Friday afternoon as accreditation problems persisted on the first day of the five-day congress.

According to the programme issued to the media on Friday, the conference was scheduled to get underway at 8:30am.

However, by 10:30am, nothing was happening.

Owed to the delays, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s political report address was only expected to start at 2pm.

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Additional reporting by Getrude Makhafola.