Cyril Ramaphosa and David Mabuza cheers at an ANC event. Image via Twitter: African National Congress
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ANC lekgotla gets underway as Sisulu saga rumbles on
The ANC is meeting with its alliance partners today. How will the Lindiwe Sisulu saga affect the ANC lekgotla?
Cyril Ramaphosa and David Mabuza cheers at an ANC event. Image via Twitter: African National Congress
@MYANC
It’s been an absolute mess of a week for the ANC. And to top to all of, the party is holding an ANC lekgotla over the weekend. With ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa being completely undermined by Lindiwe Sisulu, what will the alliance partners have to say?
Lindiwe Sisulu and a testy ANC lekgotla?
The lekgotla begins on Saturday. And comes on the back of a two-day National Executive Committee meeting which reportedly saw plenty of fireworks.
This week, Sisulu came out against the Presidency. In a statement from Ramaphosa’s office, it claimed that Sisulu had “retracted and apologised” for her “hurtful” opinion piece about the judiciary and the Constitution. In that opinion piece, Sisulu accused some black judges of being “mentally colonised”.
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Minutes after the presidency’s statement (which even included quotes from Sisulu), the minister released her own follow-up. She insists that she made no commitment to apologising and stands by her words completely. Certainly not a retraction, now is it?
While the presidency insisted that it stood by its own initial statement, Sisulu accused the president’s “media team” of deliberately being “mischievous”.
“The President’s media team was deliberately mischievous in the statement issued as the minister at no point in the conversation was firstly admonished. Or secondly expressed regrets resulting in agreeing to withdraw or apologise for her article.”
Statment from the Department of Tourism.
NEC guns for Sisulu?
According to several reports following the last two days of NEC meetings, Sisulu could end up facing the party’s integrity commission. Several NEC members and even members of the tripartite alliance have raised their concerns regarding the public battle that’s playing out.
Sisulu’s push against Ramaphosa is seen by many as the start of her campaign to challenge him for party leadership. The ANC will hold its National Elective Conference in December.
Lastly, aside from the Sisulu vs Ramaphosa show, the ANC lekgotla is set to discuss several other key issues. These include calls for amendments to the political party funding act and several branch-based issues.
