‘People must be presumed innocent until proven otherwise,’ says Magashule

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule on Tuesday assured the people of Soweto that the governing party is not corrupt and that its leaders are willing to “correct” their individual mistakes.

Magashule was on a by-election campaign trail in Emdeni ahead of Wednesday’s by-election.

The ANC secretary-general said the DA was to blame for poor service delivery in the township as it had been in charge of the city before the governing party took over the reins in the past couple of months.

“It messed up,” Magashule said of the DA.

He further claimed that the ANC’s poor performance at the last local government elections may have been due to either a low voter turnout because people assumed the governing party would win the election or that some voters were angered by the “differences” and “fights within the ANC”.

Magashule added that the factions within the party were the reason why there had been a call for the party’s renewal.

“Soweto is very important for the ANC because the struggles of our people have been waged here. People of Soweto have fought for freedom and that’s why we should never fail them.

“We must lead with humility and we must keep touch with them because sometimes we think we have delivered services, we have built houses, we have built streets, we have taken children to school, university, we are feeding children at schools; we take for granted that keeping contact and engaging our people is the most important and that’s why we have realised our mistakes and we’ll never go to our people only during election time,” Magashule said.

The ANC secretary-general said the Johannesburg city council has had discussions with Eskom, which will result in the power utility as from Friday “actually starting work” in parts of the township which do not have electricity.

“That’s what Eskom has committed itself to do this coming Friday,” Magashule said.

Though he said the ANC was not corrupt, he conceded there was a possibility that some within the governing party “might have … committed corruption”, but added it was important that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Magashule said political infighting has resulted in “other people blaming others”, with charges “against comrades” fabricated in the process.

“But the ANC is against corruption in all its manifestations and the law must take its own course but people must still be presumed innocent until proven otherwise,” Magashule said.

He gave the assurance that “our people will get land” as per the party’s conference resolution, adding that “no one is going to stop us from implementing that decision”.

The ANC in parliament, working with other parties, is seeking to amend section 25 of the constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation, Magashule said.

“There is an expropriation bill in parliament as I talk now and members of parliament there are all over South Africa interacting with people around the expropriation bill. We are going to ensure that our people get back their land, and they will get it and as you move around you will see that people have taken land,” Magashule said, adding that municipalities should also “give people land”.

He said during apartheid, the fight was for land and that fight cannot be abandoned at this stage or else “history will find us wanting”.

Magashule said the ANC is the hope of the people of South Africa and that the mistakes committed by the party’s leaders as individuals “are not the mistakes of the ANC”.

He said the ANC leadership will correct its flaws “because we are an organisation of the people”, adding that the party listens “to the people” and that when criticised by the public, the party humbles itself.

Magashule added that arrogant party leaders “are really not ANC leaders”.

“We humble ourselves. We know the cries of our people and we know the challenges. We know there are people who still sleep without food. We know there are children who don’t go to school. We know that education in our country is still a big challenge,” Magashule said, adding that the country’s health system had fared well during the Covid-19  pandemic.

Meanwhile, a warrant of arrest has been issued for Magashule in connection with the Free State asbestos saga.

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