Durban – In what appeared to be a bid by President Cyril Ramaphosa to lobby members of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) to go against the doctrine of innocent until proven otherwise, the leader said he never thought that one day they would have to seek legal opinion on the resolution of stepping aside.
Delivering his 11-page political overview of the party on Monday, Ramaphosa spoke about unity and corruption – among other issues.
He lamented that unity was becoming elusive and unlike in the past where divisions within the ANC were managed and remained internal matters, they were now in the public domain.
“Despite numerous resolutions and repeated pronouncements, unity within our movement remains elusive. As has been the case for a long time, the divisions within our movement are most pronounced at a leadership level. The period following the 54th national conference was characterised by greater cohesion and unity of purpose within the organisation, but now divisions are becoming more apparent and factions are emerging once again.
“These divisions are manifesting themselves not just in our structures, but in public demonstrations of dissent and discord. In recent times, we have witnessed statements and actions that are alien to the practices, culture and values of our movement. We increasingly appear like an organisation at war with itself,” he said.
This comes as his supporters inside and outside the NEC are gunning for the party’s secretary-general, Ace Magashule, calling for him to step aside because he is facing corruption charges emanating from the Free State asbestos project worth R255 million.
IOL reported late on Sunday that while Ramaphosa’s foot soldiers were gunning for Magashule, there was a bitter pushback. Magashule’s backers went after Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and called on Ramaphosa to fire him with immediate effect after he admitted to the Zondo commission that the Sars rogue unit existed.
Former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma were surprise participants in the virtual meeting. It is believed their presence was to back the two main factions who are wrangling over the step-aside resolution.
In Ramaphosa’s political overview, he said unity in the ANC should not be about protecting those who are accused of corruption and that the step-aside resolution must be respected.
“Many of the challenges we now face are due to the lack of a common and coherent approach to the measures we must take to address allegations of corruption and other serious crimes against leaders and cadres of our movement. We have a direct instruction from the 54th National Conference to renew our organisation and clear resolutions on rebuilding the integrity and credibility of our movement. At the NEC meeting of August 28-30, we took firm and unequivocal decisions on the fight against corruption within our structures and across society.
“These decisions were drawn directly from the decisions of the 54th National Conference. We described our stance as ‘a line in the sand’, representing our collective determination not to give any ground in our fight against corruption. Now, just 3 months later, there is a growing concern within society and among our membership that this leadership is not committed to the decisions taken by the NEC and by our national conference. The challenge we face is not only about the implementation of conference resolutions and NEC decisions,” Ramaphosa said.
He admitted that about five legal opinions were sought on stepping aside but did not say which one he believed should stand.
The meeting concludes on Tuesday and a statement from the NEC about was discussed is expected on Wednesday or Thursday.