ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa is said to have rescued party treasurer-general Paul Mashatile at a heated ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting where senior party leaders were pushing for Mashatile’s removal from the secretary-general’s office.
Mashatile is acting as both secretary-general and deputy after the suspension of Ace Magashule and death of Jessie Duarte.
Mashatile’s opponents fear the positions give him an advantage as he campaigns for the deputy president's position. The secretary-general is responsible for the day-to-day running of the party.
On Friday party leaders including ministers Mamoloko Kubayi, Ronald Lamola and Mondli Gungubele raised questions about the constitutionality of Mashatile holding three positions.
Kubayi is said to have been one of the NEC members who led the charge against Mashatile.
“She argued that there is no provision for the treasurer-general in the constitution to assume additional duties beyond his constitutionally prescribed duties,” an insider said.
Kubayi apparently quoted extensively from the ANC constitution in making her arguments. She is said to have suggested the NEC, as the highest decision-making structure between national conferences, has the power to elect a replacement among its own members should a vacancy occur in the top six.
“She said the vacancy that exists is [for] the DSG. She said NEC can opt for option 1: use the clause of filling the vacancy of DSG and assume the work of SG; or option 2: the national chair takes additional responsibility as per constitution.”
“She argued that the constitution doesn’t give any provision for the TG (treasurer-general) to do this work. If we are taken to court we will lose as it's a violation of the constitution,” the insider said.
Lamola is said to have told the meeting that while Mashatile was doing a good job, the party had to check whether his holding the office was above board.
But Ramaphosa in his closing remarks came to Mashatile’s rescue, saying the office, which is essentially the engine of the ANC, should not be rattled so close to the conference.
He apparently told the meeting that the top six officials had agreed Mashatile should continue in his roles supported by co-ordinator Gwen Ramokgopa.
On concerns by NEC members that Mashatile cannot present financial and organisational reports at the December conference, Ramaphosa said that deputy president David Mabuza would be tasked with presenting the report.
Ramaphosa is also said to have closed the meeting by saying that Ramokgopa, who was being pushed to get elected as acting secretary, will be invited into the top six meetings.
These people were once again attempting what they couldn’t do all along — remove Paul. They threw the kitchen sink and everything at Paul but failed
— NEC source
Another insider said that those claiming Mashatile’s powers were unconstitutional were essentially saying that conferences that were convened under his watch had to be rerun.
“If the powers that Mashatile has are unconstitutional it means all the provincial, regional and branch meetings that took place over the year are null and void. Do you understand how silly they are being?” the insider said.
The clash between Kubayi, Lamola and Mashatile is said to be fuelled by their interest in the deputy president's position.
It is said they would prefer Mashatile to be relieved of the secretary-general duties as this may give him an edge in the lead-up to the conference.
“These people are blinded by their ambitions. It was so unnecessary. The president says officials have discussed this matter, they said let’s continue the way that we have been working, the organisational report will be read by DD [Mabuza], this is what he and Mashatile agreed on,” said a leader who attended the meeting.
“These people were once again attempting what they couldn’t do all along — remove Paul. They threw the kitchen sink and everything at Paul but they failed,” he said.
Though there has been no indication of who Ramaphosa will pick as his running mate, his stance in the NEC, even against his strongest allies, could signal his choice. Mashatile brings with him support from several provinces including Limpopo, North West and Gauteng while Lamola is being backed by his home province of Mpumalanga.
ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe is said to be one of the people who has raised concerns about Mashatile being in the office. He is said to have raised the matter when the top six discussed it this week. Mantashe declined to comment.
Lamola and Kubayi said they do not comment on NEC internal discussion in the media, while Gungubele had not responded to questions at the time of publication.
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