Johannesburg – President Cyril Ramaphosa’s supporters in the ANC NEC said that the adoption of the stepping aside guidelines was the beginning of the end for Ace Magashule.
The guidelines adopted by the NEC on Sunday, are for the implementation of its 2017 resolution for those implicated in corruption to step aside.
Magashule faces several charges linked to corruption from his time as premier of the Free State.
The embattled former premier was at the centre of debates around the issue on and out of the party.
Magashule is now being urged by some in the NEC to voluntary vacate office before the guidelines have been fine-tuned.
Some NEC members said that the road ahead was not too long with many predicting that Magashule would not occupy his office come this year’s local government election.
Some of Magashule’s supporters have downplayed the adoption of the guidelines, insisting that wider consultation must still happen and that the secretary-general still had a fighting chance.
However Ramaphosa’s forces dismissed this, saying that the can had there been kicked down the road for the last time, arguing that the guidelines were a living document, adopted by a structure that had the authority to take decisions on behald of the party.
ANC officials must now process several integrity committee reports, including one calling for Magashule to be removed.
