ANC responds to Magashule’s letter to Ramaphosa

The African National Congress on Wednesday evening responded to Secretary-General Ace Magashule’s letter to Cyril Ramaphosa, in which he “summarily” suspends him as the president of the party.

ANC responds to Magashule

The party said the “decisions of the National Executive Committee and the National Working Committee stand”.

In the statement, which was initially shared on WhatsApp, the party confirmed the NEC will be “meeting over the weekend and will accordingly respond to the Secretary-General.

“The ANC request that the Secretary General respect the decisions of the NEC and subject himself to the discipline of the organisation”.

Can Magashule suspend Ramaphosa?

Not really, no. National Chairperson of the African National Congress, Gwede Mantashe, confirmed Wednesday evening that the letter, if not a fake, “has no consequence” as Magashule doesn’t have the authority to suspend Ramaphosa.

Mantashe told the TimesLIVE the decisions within the party “are taken by structures and not individuals. He added that the intention of Magashule’s letter was to “cause confusion”.

“[Magashule] is doing someone’s bidding. […] You can’t take decisions on your own in an organisation. It has no consequence. You can’t as an individual write a letter suspending another letter.”

Mantashe likened it to being a member of a “church choir or a football club”, explaining that all decisions within the club are taken in a structure, not by any one individual.

Thus, he says, the “letter is not worth the paper it is written on”.

Now read: Ace Magashule threatens to suspend President Cyril Ramaphosa