NEWS & ANALYSIS

Ace Magashule says ANC still wants unity, renewal

Everybody is happy, says the party's Secretary General

'Everybody is happy' - Magashule says ANC still wants unity, renewal

20 May 2019

"We're going back to unity and renewal," ANC secretary general Ace Magashule said on Monday on the sidelines of an ANC national executive committee (NEC )meeting in Cape Town.

Magashule was speaking after a week in which some NEC members were rumoured to be raising objections against him.

The members reportedly want the many corruption allegations levelled against him probed, and took issue with his public spat with ANC head of elections Fikile Mbalula.

Speaking to the media as the meeting broke for lunch, Magashule said only a report on the elections was discussed at the meeting.

"We all agree it was a wonderful meeting - very frank and open. It is the time where we go and implement our elections manifesto.

"Everybody is happy," he said.

He said the deployment of presiding officers in Parliament and elsewhere would be discussed after lunch, as well as several other issues.

He didn't want to comment on the court ruling about the Estina dairy farm, or former president Jacob Zuma's appearance in court, which also happened on Monday.

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane failed in her duties to investigate and report on the Vrede dairy project in the Free State, where Magashule was once premier.

Magashule himself told News24 last week that he had heard murmurs that he was a target, including reports of a specialised investigation unit that will target him.

"Well that's what you guys are saying, it's what people are saying. So what? I hear all these things all the time. There is no smoke without fire, but we leave matters there," he said.

News24