ANC suspends Mandla Msibi over alleged January 8 disruptions

The ANC in Mpumalanga has suspended its provincial treasurer Mandla Msibi.

Msibi was found guilty of trying to sabotage the ANC’s January 8 celebrations at the Mbombela Stadium.

He is said to have organised ANC members to march against their own party and its president Cyril Ramaphosa on the day Ramaphosa was delivering the January 8 statement.

The march caused a traffic jam around the stadium, essentially blocking people from reaching the stadium. It also affected people leaving after the event, causing hours of delays.

The party’s provincial disciplinary committee found Msibi guilty on four charges relating to his actions on the day and suspended him from the party for three years. Two of those years are suspended provided Msibi is not found guilty of the same offences.

“On count 3 3.1, the disciplinary committee unanimously found him guilty for only inciting members and/or supporters of the ANC to march against the ANC and its president,” the party said on Wednesday.

The ANC has also expelled Msibi’s chief of staff, Sibusiso Mdluli, with immediate effect. He was found guilty of threatening people on Facebook, warning them not to attend the January 8 celebrations.

“The PDC arrived at the sanction in terms of rule 25.21.7 of the ANC constitution as amended and adopted at the 55th National Congress at Nasrec, Johannesburg, December 2022, wherefore Mr Sibusiso Bhuda Mdluli is hereby expelled from the ANC with immediate effect,” the party said.

Msibi and Mdluli had been suspended from the party a week after the January 8 celebrations pending their appearance before the disciplinary committee.

The party said the decision to suspend Msibi and expel Mduli “were not arrived at easily” and that they were necessary and consistent with the party’s renewal programme “which encapsulates organisational discipline as one of its most important pillars in marching forward”.

“Almost all documents of our organisation on organisational renewal overwhelmingly agree that an organisation that does not elevate the issue of organisational discipline, especially among its leaders will definitely perish, and structures of the ANC have a revolutionary duty to upkeep discipline in the organisation at all material times.”

This means Msibi, a political heavyweight in Mpumalanga with huge support, will not be part of the ANC’s election campaign and will have to watch from the sidelines as his membership of the party has been suspended.

Msibi has had his fair share of troubles within the ANC. He had to accept nomination at the party’s provincial conference in April through a letter as he had been “placed on step aside” and was not allowed to attend official programmes.

He had been “on step aside” after being charged with murder and attempted, charges which were eventually dropped. 

Msibi portrayed his political prowess as he was eventually elected, even when he was not allowed to attend the conference. He had to immediately step aside after his election as the court matter was ongoing.

This meant the ANC in the province was left without a provincial treasurer just days after his election. It threw the spanner in the works for the ANC, which had to decide whether people ”on step aside” can be nominated and elected for any leadership position.

While still debating this in the case of Msibi, the eThekwini regional conference elected Zandile Gumede as its chair. Gumede was also ”on step aside” owing to corruption charges she was facing. The party’s national working committee quickly sat to resolve that those who must step aside cannot stand for election in conference.

This decision was taken just days before the Limpopo conference where political heavyweight Danny Msiza was expected to get elected as provincial secretary. Msiza had also been made to step aside owing to his VBS Mutual Bank case. The move was seen as attempts to further move Msiza out of power.

TimesLIVE