Mbeki ‘was lobbied to bring sanity’ to ANC NEC meeting

Usually the ANC national executive committee (NEC) does not care whether former president Thabo Mbeki attends its meetings, but this time, his presence is crucial to bring sanity to proceedings.

A source said Mbeki was lobbied to come to the ongoing NEC meeting so that he could convince party secretary-general Ace Magashule “to step aside in line with the conference resolution that members facing allegations of corruption must step aside until the matter was concluded. If Magashule agreed to step aside, it would be easy to convince other members to follow suit”.

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“If Ace does not step aside, that will have ramifications for the ANC and the country. Thabo [Mbeki] went there to state his position on the conference resolution and that the resolutions must be implemented,” the source said.

“The ANC should respect the conference decision, this is not a legal matter, it’s a political matter of the party. It does not need legal advice, it’s a disciplinary matter.”

The source added that the situation was tight at the gathering and all NEC members were asked to hand over their cellphones and other gadgets so that they could not leak information to the media about the proceedings.

The NEC convened to discuss Magashule’s refusal to step aside after he told a public meeting in the Free State recently that he would only step down if asked by branches to do so.

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Another ANC source said: “This is very funny, the decision was taken by branches at the conference. So what branches is Magashule talking about”.

The source added that ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte should take over as acting secretary-general.

Even President Cyril Ramaphosa and others had cases to answer, but the situation is heavily steeped against the Zuma camp as some of them had already been charged. Those included Magashule, ANC MP and home affairs portfolio committee chair Bongani Bongo and former president Jacob Zuma.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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