Durban - A President Cyril Ramaphosa-aligned faction in the ANC’s national disciplinary committee was said to be forging ahead with the expulsion of its suspended secretary-general, Ace Magashule.
The Daily News understands that a letter from the party’s disciplinary committee asking Magashule to state why he should not be dismissed has been sent to his legal representatives under former party treasurer-general Mathews Phosa.
According to one of Magashule’s backers and Ramaphosa’s fiercest critic Carl Niehaus, the letter was sent by the national disciplinary committee chairperson Ralph Mgijima after Magashule missed the disciplinary hearing on Monday.
Niehaus said Magashule had told the committee chairperson that he was not available to attend his hearing, but Mgijima refused to postpone it, saying the hearing would continue in his absence.
Niehaus said it was strange that Ramaphosa’s faction wants Magashule to be fired but said nothing about him for bringing the party into disrepute for “stashes“ of foreign currency at his farm which were not registered with the SA Reserve Bank.
Attempts to get the ANC or disciplinary committee to comment on the matter were unsuccessful. Both ANC general manager Febe Potgieter and Pule Mabe had not responded to the questions sent to them.
Magashule’s attorney Mathews Phosa confirmed the disciplinary committee wanted his client at the hearing on Monday, but he could not attend.
He denied that there was a letter requesting to state the reasons why he should not be expelled, saying if there was such it should have been sent to him as Magashule’s lawyer in the matter.
Magashule was suspended by the party in May last year after refusing to voluntarily step aside following his arrest in relation to the asbestos tender while he was Free State premier.
One of his main charges was the letter he sent to Ramaphosa suspending him from the party “for buying the 2017” conference.
Sources who spoke to the Daily News said the embattled Ramaphosa faction was fighting tooth and nail to have the suspended secretary-general kicked out of the party before the elective conference in December.
One source said the Ramaphosa faction feared his influence and believed he may sway things against him at the conference so he should be fired before the conference.
Others said this was because of the controversy around the party’s step-aside rule which was likely to be scrapped after the elective conference, so even if he was no longer a secretary-general he would make Ramaphosa’s second term miserable.
Magashule has been fighting for his political survival. He was hoping that the party policy conference would scrap the step-aside rule, but instead the controversial policy was strengthened. In one of his affidavits in court he said his arrest was a ploy to prevent him from contesting Ramaphosa for the party’s president position at the 55th conference.
Daily News