BOKSBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – APRIL 10: [FILE PHOTO] Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina during the 25 year anniversary commemorating Chris Hani’s death on April 10, 2018 in Boksburg, South Africa. Hani was shot dead outside his Dawn Park home on April 10, 1993. (Photo by Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu)
Mzwandile Masina ‘still waiting’ for birthday message from Tito Mboweni
Ekurhuleni Mayor and ANC member Mzwandile Masina and the Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni have taken a few shots at each other on social media in recent days
BOKSBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – APRIL 10: [FILE PHOTO] Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina during the 25 year anniversary commemorating Chris Hani’s death on April 10, 2018 in Boksburg, South Africa. Hani was shot dead outside his Dawn Park home on April 10, 1993. (Photo by Gallo Images / Frennie Shivambu)
It might be safe to assume that Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina and the Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni are full on rivals, at least politically that is. However, we’re not complaining, given that it makes for great entertainment, particularly on social media.
Both politicians keep taking shots at each other, sometimes indirectly – and this time Masina is the first to poke Mboweni for apparently not sending him a message on his birthday.
The mayor turned 46 on Wednesday, 2 September 2020 and having been around the block for so long (as far as politics is concerned), the birthday messages must have come streaming in.
In a tweet on his birthday, Masina thanked the “many” people who sent him messages, but then said there was one person who was yet to send him a note. The mayor then prompted social media users to guess who the mystery person was, and when one replied with the minister’s name, Masina responded with a simples ‘Yes’, which was accompanied by a laughing emoji.
The “feud” is likely as a result of the internal factions of the African National Congress (ANC). Masina, a staunch supporter of former president Jacob Zuma, recently spearheaded a call for Zuma’s successor Cyril Ramaphosa to step down, pending an investigation into his CR17 campaign funding.
This prompted the finance minister to step in and call on the party to unite against Masina and his allies.
“These relentless attacks on our organisation must stop. And ANC leaders must not feed the frenzy! Order comrades! We must unite and call young comrades like @MzwandileMasina to order! Stop fire! Unite!,” Mboweni wrote.
The mayor then hit back, also on the social media app, saying Mboweni needed to rather focus on his job and ‘stop the side shows’.
Masina: Ramaphosa should ‘step down’
Masina had staged a picket outside the St George Hotel in Irene, Pretoria, where the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) had been locked in a meeting, discussing key issues affecting the party.
He said members implicated in corruption needed to step aside, including Ramaphosa himself.
“I felt it is important for me to be here to picket and add my voice to say enough is enough. No-one is bigger than the ANC. We must save the ANC, not individuals, because if we sought to save individuals, the ANC will perish”, he told the SABC.
