The Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) has accused some of the ANC staffers at the party’s Luthuli House of covertly working to sabotage secretary-general Ace Magashule.
This comes after Magashule was slammed for contradicting President Cyril Ramaphosa via social media on the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) mandate debate, which has threatened to divide the ANC and its alliance.
Last week, Magashule announced that the party’s lekgotla had resolved to go ahead with the expansion of the mandate of the reserve bank, which triggered a public spat within the party as several senior leaders accused him of lying.
Ramaphosa released a statement indicating that the ANC’s policy position on the central bank’s mandate and independence remained in harmony with the one stipulated in the Constitution.
Magashule’s Twitter account, however, reiterated afterwards that the lekgotla had agreed to expand the SARB’s mandate.
Magashule distanced himself from the utterances of his account, saying it was “fake news”.
Kebby Maphatsoe, MKMVA leader, said the association was disturbed by what he called attacks on Magashule, including allegations that MKMVA’s controversial spokesperson Carl Niehaus had assisted Magashule, for whom he works, to smuggle the SARB issue into the NEC lekgotla statement in the first place.
“MKMVA is aware that these malicious fake news lies originate from members of the ANC, and even more disturbingly from senior members of the ANC in Luthuli House and elsewhere, who should know better. We are also aware that the main target of these attacks is the secretary-general of the ANC and that comrade Niehaus is being attacked because of the good work that he is doing in the office of the secretary-general,” Maphatsoe said.