Durban - Despite the growing uproar from some ANC members both in KZN and at the national level, the provincial secretary of the ANC in KZN, Mdumiseni Ntuli, has refused to retract harsh remarks bashing Ace Magashule.
In a video recorded in December which has resurfaced and is being circulated by ANC members on different Whatsapp groups and social media, Ntuli is heard bashing Magashule for telling his supporters outside the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court that he won’t step down unless told by branches who elected him.
Magashule, who is the ruling party’s secretary-general, made these remarks after appearing in court for corruption charges emanating from the 2012 Free State asbestos project worth R255 million.
In apparent defiance of the "step aside" resolution of the ANC which was adopted in August last year, Magashule implied that only branches could remove him, angering in equal measure, both his opponents within his own party and his critics outside it.
Addressing a political lecture titled: “The role of ANC membership in the organizational renewal” which was hosted by the Moses Mabhida region in Pietermaritzburg almost two weeks ago (December 20 last year), Ntuli tore Magashule apart.
He said people should look beyond factional lines, face Magashule and tell him that “he was wrong” to say that he won’t step down.
“You can’t, as the SG (secretary-general), a top leader of the movement, be the first one to rebel against the decisions of the ANC,” Ntuli is heard saying in Zulu.
Defending the remarks, Ntuli told Independent Media’s politics desk on Tuesday that the video “is old” and has been on the website of the ANC for days.
Asked whether he regrets making the remarks that are fuelling divisions, he said, no and that he does not intend withdrawing them.
“It's comments based on principles and I can neither regret nor withdraw them. It's an ANC proper language and politics,” Ntuli said.
Political Bureau