Nomvula is right and Nomvula must be defended by the ANC – Ace Magashule

In a one-on-one interview with eNCA journalist Samkele Maseko, ANC secretary general Ace Magashule answered questions about the party’s list debacle in addition to responding to allegations laying out his involvement in state capture in the Free State province in Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s recently published book.

Regarding the contentious candidates featured on the ANC’s parliamentary list, Magashule once again reiterated that due process had to take place regarding the charges faced by and allegations made against certain ANC members on the list.

Among the names featured on the list are Msebenzi Zwane, Nomvula Mokonyane, Bathabile Dlamini, and Malusi Gigaba.

RELATED: ANC reconsidering their parliamentary list

Magashule recalled the processes the party underwent in the months following September 2018 in an effort to arrive at a comprehensive list of potential representatives for the party. He went on to invoke supreme law, stating that the names on the list that are in contention had not yet been convicted in any court of law and thus could not be referred to as criminals.

“If you talk Bheki Cele, if you talk Nomvula Mokonyane… I, as secretary general, I hear what people say. I come from the culture and tradition of the ANC when the ANC leaders are attacked, I am the first point of defence for that leadership. It is attacked because there is an agenda. An agenda to reverse the gains of our revolution,” said Magashule.

“There was no stage where I sent to got to Nomvula and say, ‘Nomvula get out of the list.’ Nomvula is not guilty of any other thing. Yes, the meeting with the top six did take place because I can see there are sources which you always claim. That meeting did take place and Nomvula said, like any other member of the ANC, ‘I have never done things and there are all these allegations against me’. Nomvula is right and Nomvula must be defended by the ANC,” explained Magashule.

Magashule went on to state that as part of this agenda, there is a disproportionate focus on some leaders and not on others who also may not be following due process or adhering to the law.

When asked who these leaders were, Magashule opted to steer the conversation in a different direction.

When asked directly if he was corrupt and if he thought the candidates on the ANC list were a good representation of the party as a whole, he once again implored Maseko and eNCA viewers to wait for the law to take its course.

He promised that the truth would be revealed once it happened.

Magashule alluded to a plot to remove him by unnamed forces but maintained that he was nominated by internal structures such as ANC branches, adding that those are the only channels through which he could rightfully be removed from his position.

The ANC secretary general did, however, state that the media had its own agenda against ANC leadership and was working in an effort to have them removed.

Maseko then reminded him that he was speaking to a member of the media, to which Magashule replied: “It’s not everybody in the media.”

In response to allegations made about his struggle credentials in Myburgh’s book, Magashule said: “In South Africa, I’m not fake, in the history of the struggle, I’m not fake. Things will be exposed in a court of law because these are simple lies.”

The ANC secretary general also called Myburgh a blatant liar. Magashule insisted he never received any questions from Myburgh regarding the contents of his book.

Watch the full interview below:

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