ANC pulls an Ace from its own sleeve by releasing Cyril’s NEC closing remarks

President Cyril Ramaphosa made the unprecedented move last year to publicise his closing remarks from a private ANC meeting, apparently because secretary-general Ace Magashule continuously misrepresented ruling party decisions.

These claims come as the ANC brings in national executive committee (NEC) member Gwen Ramokgopa as a coordinator in Magashule’s office after his suspension and his deputy Jessie Duarte having fallen ill.

According to NEC sources, the decision to make public the closing remarks was taken after Magashule had on numerous occasions allegedly “misrepresented” NEC decisions and discussions about the step aside issue during his media briefings and other instances after NEC meetings.

This was unprecedented in the ANC as NEC discussions, including the president’s closing remarks, were confidential. Only the NEC lekgotla closing remarks would sometimes be made live as the meeting was attended by premiers not from the ANC. This has happened on a few occasions.

The party was discussing the issue about members and leaders charged with corruption or other crimes stepping aside from their duties until their legal battles were resolved.

Magashule was directly affected by the step aside resolution which called for party members and leaders facing corruption or criminal charges to vacate their positions until they had solved their legal battles.

NEC insiders said they had been concerned about the false narrative Magashule had allegedly been putting out on NEC decisions until they convinced Ramaphosa to allow the media to listen in.

He was suspended in May last year after failing to voluntarily step aside owing to his corruption charges in the Free State asbestos auditing tender case being heard at the Bloemfontein High Court.

One of the examples of Magashule’s alleged misrepresentation is how he allegedly tried to widen the scope of those who would be affected by the party’s step-aside resolution. This was a month before he was suspended.

Magashule tried to do this by telling provincial secretaries to not only send names of those formally charged but also those who were not charged but were facing allegations or were said to have been implicated in corruption. 

The party’s national working committee had to issue a statement contradicting Magashule, clarifying that only those who were formally charged with corruption and other crimes must step aside. 

NEC insiders who spoke to Sunday Times Daily said they had been concerned about the false narrative Magashule had allegedly been putting out on NEC decisions, until they convinced Ramaphosa to allow the media to listen in.

One of the insiders said they could not call out Magashule in public as this would put the party into disrepute. 

“The problem was that he would say all these things that were not true and then the narrative would be out there for three months until the next NEC meeting. Then we would raise these concerns in the meeting where we would agree that he was not accurate. But then he would go out and do the same thing,” said an NEC member.

This happened, he said, at the height of the step aside discussions and it was eventually decided in December 2020 that Ramaphosa deliver his closing remarks in public.

The problem was that he would say all these things that were not true and then the narrative would be out there for three months until the next NEC meeting.

Another NEC member said the decision was also taken at the time to counter media leaks which became synonymous with the virtual meetings.

“We have done so because we were dealing with a number of issues to an extent that, if we did not open the closing remarks to the public, they would be distorted,” aid an NEC member.

“At the time we were dealing with Magashule and step aside. Information would leak incorrectly and so the introduction of opening the closing address to the media was a deliberate measure to address those leaks.”

“This is not standard. When [Jacob] Zuma was president we never opened his closing remarks to the public; even when Cyril started his term they were not.”

The ANC did not wish to respond.

A request for a response has been sent to Magashule and will be updated as soon as it is obtained.

But those around him say he was against the NEC deciding to amend ANC 54th national conference about step aside. His argument, they said, was that even those who faced accusations and not charges had to be affected.