Johannesburg – South Africa’s ANC yesterday rejected all reports of party officials’ plot to oust Ramaphosa and referred to them as nothing more than baseless rumours.
The Sunday Times newspaper said earlier on Sunday that Zuma held a clandestine meeting with staunch backers including ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, former North-West premier Supra Mahumapelo, ANC Women’s league secretary-general Meokgo Matuba and ANC Youth league KwaZulu-Natal secretary Thanduxolo Sabelo on Thursday.
The meeting is believed to have been a discussion on strategies that can be taken in order to challenge the outcome of last year’s ANC national conference. One strategy being, taking action in court.
The first action taken by the group was, sending a letter to Magashule from regional committees in the North West, this past Wednesday. It was done to challenge the ANC’s highest decision-making body for its decision to disband the provincial executive committee, led by Mahumapelo.
In a statement, ANC spokesman Pule Mabe refuted the report, saying the ANC rejects attempts to link Magashule to the alleged plot to oust Ramaphosa.
“It is clear that this malicious gossip is calculated to cast aspersions on the integrity and commitment of our Secretary General to the unity and renewal project of the African National Congress,” Mabe said.
Ramaphosa emerged the winner when he defeated Zuma’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Jacob Zuma’s ex-wife in a leadership vote at the party’s national conference in December. Zuma was later asked to step down from his presidential seat in February, 2018.
Since Ramaphosa took over, fighting corruption has been his overall priority.
