Durban - In a second harsh rebuke seemingly aimed at Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, ANC secretary-general, Ace Magashule has reminded the minister that all party resolutions are binding.
Magashule said it was unheard of to have a member who goes out of his way to rubbish party resolutions outside party structures.
He was speaking in Port Shepstone, on the KZN south coast, where the ANC in the province was hosting its 108 birthday rally.
This was the second time in weeks the ANC lashed out at Mboweni for taking to Twitter to say he was against the 2017 Nasrec resolution to nationalise the Reserve Bank saying it was a “wrong resolution”.
Magashule said no ANC leader should speak for himself on government matters that have already been settled at party meetings.
“The ANC has a collective leadership, once the ANC has taken a decision there is no leader in the history of the ANC who will go out and take his own position and say the national conference, the national executive committee is dom (for taking those decisions). When our branches take decisions at our conferences, those decisions are binding on all of us as leaders. That is what President (Cyril) Ramaphosa said while addressing the media,” Magashule said.
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Later, on the sidelines of the conference when he was asked by Independent Media whether they have spoken to Mboweni for his constant utterances that contradict the party, Magashule said no matter “how important you are” the party’s decisions bind everyone.
“I have never talked about any names but I am just saying to members of the ANC wherever they are, those who don’t respect party decisions taken by the highest decision-making body, whoever you are, how important you are, it is not important because the ANC believes in collective leadership. And resolutions of the national conference are resolutions of the highest body…
"In the history of the African National Congress, we have never been talking about 'I', we are always talking about 'we', that’s why we say collective leadership,” he said.
He added that while Mboweni was leading team SA at the World Economic Forum in Davos early this week, he was on the same page with the party’s NEC. Magashule also said the ANC is very clear on struggling state-owned companies like Eskom and the South African Airways that they should remain in state hands.