ANC secretary general Ace Magashule warned his fellow leaders against attempting to resolve party matters through the courts
ANC secretary general Ace Magashule has defended President Jacob Zuma, saying there is “no need to rush” to kick him out of office.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian on the sidelines of a meeting between Luthuli House and rival ANC KwaZulu-Natal factions in Durban this week, Magashule contradicted several ANC national executive committee (NEC) members who, this week, told the M&G they wanted Zuma gone as soon as possible to give new ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa space to campaign for the party ahead of the 2019 general elections.
In an interview this week, Magashule argued for a softly-softly approach when dealing with Zuma’s political future to “nurse” the ANC’s fragile unity and ensure the party’s branches were comfortable with the decisions taken by its top leadership.
Magashule took a swipe at those calling for Zuma’s removal to avoid two centres of power, saying the argument was flawed.
“I don’t want to talk as an individual now that the matter is before us as officials, but there is only one centre [of power] and that centre is the ANC. When I became chairperson in the Free State, Beatrice Marshoff was the premier. Marshoff finished her term. There were comrades who were in a rush for me to take over, we were left with two and a half years, but were advised: ‘Don’t be in a rush, let Marshoff finish her term’,” Magashule said. “If you take this term you are not going to create a legacy. You inherit something in-between.
“I come from the school [of thought] that says: ‘Allow time to evaluate, monitor, listen, watch and then decide at the right time’,” Magashule said. “As an individual I will subject [myself] to the wisdom of the collective. That wisdom must not be arrogant and it must not be rushed.”
He said the issue of Zuma was “not mechanical” and that there had been no decision by the officials, who were mandated to manage the transition by the ANC NEC, to remove Zuma.
“It is a process. We are engaging. We still want to apply our minds. We have not taken any decision. We want to allow the president of the ANC and the president of the country a chance and give them time to engage,” Magashule said.
“It must not be rushed. It must be a process. When you nurse unity in society, and in the ANC in particular, you don’t rush things, you don’t get impatient.
‘‘Where we come from in history, we analyse, we study, we engage — it’s a long process — and then we take the right decision at the right time, but conditions will decide,” he added.
Magashule said under his leadership as secretary general of the party, the ANC would focus on ensuring accountability from its deployees in government, including ministers, premiers and mayors, particularly in terms of implementing the resolutions of its national conference.
Implementation of policies has been one of the key weaknesses of the governing party over the past few years.
Magashule’s predecessor, and now ANC chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, has previously been criticised for failing to hold some of the ministers seen to be close to Zuma to account.
“You can’t take resolutions and you don’t implement them. You are actually weakening structures and you are saying you are above them,” Magashule said.
All resolutions would be checklisted and implemented, in batches if necessary, for the next five years.
“At the end of the term we need to report on what we have implemented and bring everybody together and say where we have not moved. That is what is called accountability,” he said.
Magashule also warned ANC leaders who continue to take the party to court instead of using internal processes to resolve disputes.
He said the creation of a national dispute resolution committee meant aggrieved members had “somewhere to take your matters”.
“There is now no need to go to court or anywhere else. Comrades need to accept that they belong to an organisation they joined voluntarily. There is a constitution and a fashion that they have to work in,” he said.
Turning to the seizure of the Estina dairy farm at Vrede and R200-million in assets from the Gupta family, Magashule said it was “disconcerting” that the farm had collapsed during his term as premier of the Free State.
He has thus far declined to publicly comment on the scandal, and the links between his son Tshepiso and the Guptas.
“It is disconcerting. What I can say is that the matter is sub judice. We will be led by events.”
He said it was not the first time he has been accused of corruption. The previous occasion was in 1996, when Mosiuoa Lekota was Free State premier. Magashule said he had been cleared of any wrongdoing yet still was “tainted” by the allegations.
“I was labelled as corrupt by the then premier. My credibility and my integrity was highly tainted. Lekota even established a commission that found me not to have done anything wrong. No court of law found anybody to have done anything, but you still keep that stigma of being corrupt,” he said.
“Today people want to judge you and find you guilty when you appear before a committee. You are not given a chance. When you appear in court you are given an opportunity to retain counsel, to take a stance and prove your innocence,” he said.
“I think we shouldn’t rush. We should allow the processes to be concluded. We are the first to condemn corruption as leaders of the ANC.
“I still walk with confidence, but once your credibility is tainted, people never come back and say sorry. Before the eyes of our children, your people, you are labelled as corrupt.”