ANC stalwart Mavuso Msimang. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
ANC stalwart Mavuso Msimang, who resigned from the party this week, says he will not join the new political movement to be launched by leading businessman Roger Jardine.
Msimang, who spent 60 years of his life in the ANC, met Jardine’s team and was asked for “advice” during behind-the-scenes consultations ahead of the launch this weekend.
The former ANC Veterans’ League deputy chairperson said he had not been asked to join the new movement — and had no intention of doing so.
On Friday the Mail & Guardian reported that Msimang had been touted to be among a number of former and current ANC leaders planning to join the new organisation, which will contest the 2024 elections.
Jardine is a former United Democratic Front activist who served as director general of the department of arts and culture in Nelson Mandela’s administration before entering the business world.
Jardine resigned as the board chairperson of the First Rand group earlier this year and has the backing of the business community to run as a presidential candidate for the opposition coalition, the Multi-Party Charter of South Africa.
Msimang said he had been approached by members of Jardine’s team some time ago — long before he had decided to leave the ANC — for his thoughts on the idea of launching a new party.
“They wanted me to assess its chances. I said you [Jardine] are a man of integrity, but you have been out of the political world for 26 years,” Msimang told the M&G.
Msimang said he believed it was too close to the elections to be starting a party, quoting the example of Rise Mzansi, which launched 18 months ago, but which is expected to take a maximum of only 2% of the vote next year.
The discussion had centred on the strategy of partnering with an existing party with a large constituency — notably the Democratic Alliance — which Msimang said he believed would result in “issues”.
“That’s how far the discussion went. I had not taken any kind of decision about leaving the ANC at that point.
“It was advice. He [Jardine] was not asking me to join,” Msimang said. “He obviously would have been interested, but I really did not indicate then that I was coming out of the ANC. I had not decided to do so at that point.”
Msimang said that although his resignation was not sparked by a single incident, the ANC’s stonewalling of a resolution barring those referred for prosecution or investigation by the Zondo commission on state capture was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The resolution had been raised by the veterans’ league in response to the ANC’s polling — which indicated it would get only 36% of the vote nationally in next year’s election — because they believed it would boost public support for the party.
The resolution, which affected 97 ANC members referred to by Zondo, had been piloted by the veterans’ league, but the party’s national executive committee (NEC) had failed to discuss it, deferring the agenda item from meeting to meeting.
Although the 97 ANC members had been referred to the party’s integrity commission by the NEC, only five had presented themselves to it and those who had defied the party had not been sanctioned.
“The item just never got to be discussed. When it was on the agenda, it would be removed. It was never discussed,” Msimang said.
“I came to realise that if it has not been taken up at this point, it would not be discussed before the [elections] list processes. I was suspicious all along, but I wanted to give them the benefit of time.
“I would have been delighted if they had implemented it as I firmly believe that it would have resulted in votes and would have helped get the ANC over the line,” Msimang said.
“I then decided that I should resign.”
Msimang said he had not leaked his resignation letter, but had simply sent it to party secretary general Fikile Mbalula and “left it to the ANC”.
Two hours later it appeared on ANC WhatsApp groups.
Msimang’s resignation sparked a storm in the party, with President Cyril Ramphosa describing it as “regrettable”.
Other ANC leaders have been less charitable, and have torn into the veteran over his decision.
Msimang said he will be focussing on issues of public integrity, and will be available to provide advice to parties on policy and ethics in a bid to promote good governance.
“I want to focus on doing my own things, but I would keep a close watch on what is going on. If there are parties that may think there is some value in talking to me as a person who is now free from the ANC, on their policies and how they relate to ethics, I am very available for that,” he said.