Apostles at each other's throats over fate of ATM

The founder of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Chief Apostle Caesar Nongqunga, has made sensational claims that President Cyril Ramaphosa was behind a plot to kill him and sabotage the ATM.

Nongqunga's shocking claims are contained in a recording of his sermon during a church service in Mthatha just after the elections. The leader of the Twelve Apostles Church in Christ this week confirmed making the allegations.

In the recording, Nongqunga is heard telling congregants that he had to cancel plans to go to a funeral in Cape Town after being tipped off that 10 snipers had been paid to take him out. He accuses fellow apostle Buyisile Ngqulwana of being part of this conspiracy to kill him and end the ATM.

Ngqulwana made headlines recently when he filed an affidavit linking ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and former president Jacob Zuma to the formation of the ATM. This week the ANC national working committee appointed former president Kgalema Motlanthe to investigate Ngqulwana's claims.

According to Nongqunga, Ngqulwana was working with Ramaphosa to ensure the downfall of the ATM.

However, Ngqulwana rubbished Nongqunga's claims as a desperate attempt to deflect attention from the ATM's poor election showing - it won only two seats in the National Assembly.

In the recording, Nongqunga claims that 10 snipers were paid to kill him on his way from the Eastern Cape to Cape Town to attend the funeral service of the late gospel star Reverend Nkomfa Mkabile, an ATM member.

"The other day I received intelligence from the ANC, because there are spooks for other parties in that party which the ANC is not aware of. These people told me to be careful because the president had forked out R300m to sabotage the ATM. The following day I was meant to go to the funeral and I got a call alerting me of the 10 snipers. They told me that one of my children [Ngqulwana] in Cape Town is part of this plan. I was told the first sniper would be outside the airport, and along the N2 there will be others waiting."

This week, Nongqunga said he took the tip-off so seriously that he had to beef up his security. He was not willing to reveal the names of informants within the ANC, saying "it would put their lives at risk", but insisted the information was reliable. "A picture does not lie. There is a picture of the president and Ngqulwana together. He has always boasted about his close links to the president."

Ngqulwana hit back, accusing Nongqunga of selling out on their initial plan to "form an alliance" with the ANC. He said Nongqunga's claims of a hit were an excuse for ATM's underperformance in the elections.

"The chief apostle's allegations of an assassination attempt are pure political games to cover up on his false prophecy he made before the elections that ATM will be government," said Ngqulwana.

"He is deliberately trying to create confusion that the ATM performed badly because it was sabotaged, as he claimed several times to have prophesied it [would be] government after the elections. Now the ATM is not government, which contradicts his prophecy, hence he claims President Ramaphosa forked out R300m to stifle the ATM."

Head of ANC presidency Zizi Kodwa dismissed Nongqunga's claims as "false and baseless and an act of desperation".