AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER
THE ANC has gone toe-to-toe with its suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule, rubbishing his claims against the party and describing some of them as false and absurd.
In an affidavit responding to Magashule’s claims, ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte described as absurd, Magashule’s claim that he was not afforded sufficient time to state his case. She said the secretary-general had ample time to state his case.
Duarte said Magashule, who sent a letter suspending ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa had no authority to do so. She said the step aside rule did not apply to Ramaphosa because he was not indicted on a criminal charge.
Duarte said it was untrue that her letter suspending Magashule was triggered by his own purporting to suspend ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa.
“He was present when the cases such as his were discussed at the NWC meeting of 3 May 2021. The NWC instructed that all comrades regardless of the positions they occupy had to step aside and Rule 25.70 must be invoked. I had to address a letter of suspension to the applicant in terms of this instruction of the NWC. His suggestion that my letter was, in some bizarre way, a hurried reaction to his, is accordingly farfetched,” Duarte said.
She also described Magashule’s public announcement that his appeal of the suspension meant that it was wholly suspended until the matter was heard as a misconception.
The Deputy Secretary-General clarified that the ANC’s constitution does not provide for an appeal against a suspension. It does not, she said, provide a “for a suspension of such a suspension pending any appeal or review.”
Duarte dismissed Magashule’s allegation that she, as deputy secretary-general, was not competent to write the letter suspending him. “It is obvious that the application was conflicted and could not lawfully author his own letter of suspension. It thus became necessary or otherwise fell upon me to do so. It was competent for me to do so because Rule 16.9 of the ANC’s constitution allows me to deputise for the secretary-general when it is necessary to do so and to ‘carry out the functions entrusted to the secretary-general by .. the NEC or the NWC. In issuing the letter of suspension against the applicant I was carrying out a function and instruction entrusted by the national conference, the NEC and the NWC,” Duarte said.
She also rejected Magashule’s assertion that the ANC NEC and NWC have unlawfully distorted the step aside rule.
Duarte also dismissed Magashule’s submission that the step aside rule was in conflict with the presumption of innocence.
“Rule 25.70 has no bearing on guilt, but only protects integrity of the ANC, a value that is clearly more important in the constitution of the ANC, while the applicant proves his innocence in a judicial process,” Duarte said.
She also said Magashule trivialised the charges against him by suggesting that they were frivolous and “an oddity, if not a downright absurdity”. “But that is of course not so,” said Duarte. “The charges against him are very serious charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering.”
The criminal charges against Magashule were not limited to a failure to implement oversight, she added.
She denied Magashule’s allegation that decisions of the NEC and NWC to suspend him closed all possibilities of resolving any dispute he may have with the ANC internally. She said the claim was an attempt by Magashule to justify his approach to the courts.
“This is an attempt by the applicant to justify approaching the court to set aside decisions, rules and resolutions that he has been a part of for many years through the ANC internal democratic processes. The applicant has supported the implementation of the decisions, rules and resolutions that he now challenges. He does so because they no longer suit his personal position,” she said.
She also rejected, as false, allegations that the step aside rule was used by the dominant CR17 faction against the NDZ faction of the ANC.
Duarte said it was ironic that Magashule agreed that one of the most serious problems facing society in SA was corruption and yet he would not support efforts by the ANC to fight corruption through tthe implementation of the step aside resolution.
“He has been charged in a criminal court for fraud, corruption and money laundering and should lead by example and step aside as other members of the ANC have done. Doing so protects the integrity of the ANC,” she said.
