Zizi Kodwa: No one can challenge the Nasrec outcomes

The outcomes of the ANC’s Nasrec elective conference that elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the party’s president stands‚ and nobody will succeed in challenging it.

Responding to a Sunday Times report that former president Jacob Zuma had held a secret meeting in Durban last week with 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‚ ANC presidential spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the party would not allow the disruption of its efforts to build unity and renewal of the organisation.

He warned that: “Nobody‚ outside or inside the ANC, will succeed in changing outcomes of Nasrec‚ they were democratic outcomes. Whatever happiness or unhappiness of one individual or two may have outside of the structures‚ that outcome is not going to change.”

Addressing journalists in Parktown‚ Johannesburg‚ on Monday‚ Kodwa also said the senior party members who were alleged to have been part of the meeting must explain the purpose of their meeting‚ and not the ANC.

“We cannot speak on behalf of the people who were in the meeting‚ it’s not for us to ask anybody who was in a meeting what meeting it was. If there is an issue about a plot‚ it is people who were in the meeting who can best explain what the meeting was all about‚” Kodwa said.

He said the ANC had not approached the implicated members to seek answers and that they were not even sure if the meeting took place.

The Sunday Times published a picture of Zuma‚ Magashule‚ Mahumapelo and Matuba in the hotel foyer taken after the meeting.

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe on Sunday rubbished the report as “malicious gossip calculated to cast aspersions on the integrity and commitment of Magashule to the unity and renewal project of the ANC”.

“It is not for us to accept or deny a meeting we are not aware of‚ it’s people who were in the meeting who can explain best what the meeting was about‚” Kodwa said.

NEC member‚ Jackson Mthembu on Sunday called for an investigation into the allegations‚ which he said deserved urgent attention by the party’s highest decision-making body.

Kodwa said the ANC could not take a newspaper story and make it an agenda in the NEC.

Sunday Times journalist Qaanitah Hunter who reported the story on Sunday tweeted a screenshot of a picture of a toy gun‚ sent to her by Matuba.

Kodwa said Matuba was not representing the ANC.

“We will not support any individual who would want to threaten journalists... even if you disagree with them‚ to send guns‚ that person will not be acting on behalf of the ANC.”

He could not say if the ANC would discipline Matuba as he had not yet engaged her on the matter.