ANC national working committee to deliberate on withdrawal resolution
General Secretary Ace Magashule
Gallo Images / Sowetan / Alaister Russell
- The ANC’s national working committee is expected to meet to consider provincial reports on criminally charged members who should step down.
- The meeting follows deliberations among the party’s top six over the weekend.
- Its national executive committee is expected to decide on the matter after its meeting next weekend.
The ANC’s National Working Committee (NWC) is due to meet on Monday to discuss – once again – the implementation of its resolution that members charged with serious offenses should stand down.
It comes after the deadline for accused general secretary Ace Magashule to resign or face expulsion expired.
READ | Ramaphosa, SACP and Cosatu speak out strongly against corruption ahead of crisis week for Magashule
Magashule did not budge when the deadline came and his supporters in the Fezile Dabi region of the Free State threatened to ban the National Executive Committee (NEC) if it forced him out.
The party’s top six were due to meet over the weekend to discuss reports from provincial structures on how the rule should be implemented in their provinces, as well as lists of members charged with serious crimes – such as the bribery, murder and rape – which should rule you out.
General Treasurer Paul Mashatile said last week that most of the reports had arrived and the NWC would review them before the NEC meeting this weekend.
Party spokesman Pule Mabe could not be reached for comment, but he confirmed to SABC radio news that the meeting would continue. He said the NEC “will decide on the implementation and operationalization of this decision”.
The party’s integrity commission recommended in December that Magashule, who is out on 200,000 rand bail, step down so he can clear his name in court.
He was charged with corruption in connection with a multi-million rand asbestos tender that was awarded when he was Prime Minister of the Free State.
The NEC then accepted this decision and at its meeting at the end of March, it set the deadline of 30 days.
Magashule last week paid a last-minute visit to former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe, two weeks after traveling to Nkandla with some of his allies to meet former president Jacob Zuma.
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