Ace Magashule. Picture Neil McCartney
ANC-aligned civic body the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco) says the launch of Ace Magashule’s African Transformation Congress (ACT) is a blessing for the ANC because it will show the ruling party does not tolerate corruption and ill-discipline.
Sanco interim national coordinator Paul Sebegoe described ACT’s establishment by Magashule as a “defining moment that will contribute significantly towards a decisive ANC victory in the 2024 elections”.
Sebegoe said whether Magashule liked it or not, the achievements he might have made when ANC premier in the Free State belong to the ANC and not to him.
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The expelled former ANC secretary-general launched his political party in Soweto on Thursday. He was initially suspended in terms of the ANC’s step-aside policy and then expelled early this year for undermining the party’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
As then secretary-general, Magashule suspended Ramaphosa as ANC president, despite not having the power to do so in terms of the ANC constitution.
After at least two years on step-aside, the party’s national disciplinary committee resolved to expel Magashule, who served as Free State premier for at least a decade, the longest period in office for a premier in the province.
“The civic organisation maintained that ACT will not be a threat to the ANC but a boost that the revolutionary alliance needed to consolidate its support base and attract new voters,” Sebegoe said.
“This new development will advance the ANC’s renewal programme and distance the revolutionary alliance from individuals fingered in serious allegations of fraud and corruption dismissed from the party,” Sebegoe said.
Sebegoe said that to the electorate this sent “an unequivocal message” that the corrupt are no longer welcomed within the ANC.
“A zero tolerance to corruption stance is a precursor to good governance and if the ANC continues along this trajectory, it will restore public confidence in public institutions eroded during the state capture era,” he stressed.
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He alluded to the fact that ACT was formed around an individual, Magashule, amounting to a personality cult saying this would not be attractive to the voters.
“If there are no ideological and policy differences, South Africans will find it difficult to be wowed by political parties fashioned along the lines of personality cults.
“Contrary to what Magashule wants our communities to believe that the achievements of the Free State provincial government, while he was at the helm, were his personal achievements, our people know that there was no Ace Manifesto that they voted for.
“While he can’t take away the achievements of the ANC to his new party, the court of law is the appropriate platform for him to be held accountable for his alleged misdemeanours related to the Asbestos roof project and Vrede Dairy Farm,” he said.
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