Durban - The ANC has warned its members who intend to head to the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court to support the party’s secretary-general Ace Magashule not to behave in a manner “perceived to be undermining the decorum” of the governing party.
The stern warning came from the party spokesperson Pule Mabe on Friday in a media briefing ahead of the party’s two day National Executive Committee meeting.
Magashule, who is currently out on R200 000 bail, is expected to appear before the Magistrate’s Court in Bloemfontein on 21 charges of fraud and corruption related to the asbestos removal tender during his time as Free State premier.
Mabe said that they had previously called on their members going to court to show support to a leader appearing to do so in a dignified manner.
“They should not be seen to be doing things that would otherwise be perceived to be undermining the decorum of the African National Congress. We had gone ourselves previously when the SG was appearing in court.
“We were seen outside court in various platforms calling our members to order, especially those that were statements that were to be going against the unity of the ANC. We will again be making the same plea that we’ve made in the past,” Mabe said.
He added that Magashule himself had been on record calling to order those were hurling insults at ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa and burning party t-shirts bearing Ramaphosa’s face, adding that such things could not be done in Magashule’s name as both men work well together.
Earlier this week, a group of ANC members from the eThekwini Region, expressed their support for Magashule saying that attacks on Magashule had become particularly severe after his election as the party SG at its 54th national elective conference in December 2017, adding that these attacks were aimed at weakening the ANC internally.
The leader and spokesperson of the group, Mzomuhle Dube, who is also a spokesperson for the supporters of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede, said that Magashule’s questioning of the mandate of the Reserve bank had turned him into “enemy number one of the monopoly capital”.
“His biggest sin was to repeat the ANC conference resolution on the Reserve Bank and challenging the untransformed Economic Structure of our country,” Dube said.
Political Bureau