AFRICAN National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe yesterday slapped down Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale over a report criticising Mantashe and his counterpart in the South African Communist Party (SACP) for not doing enough to contain tension in the alliance.
Yesterday Mantashe issued a statement, the second since the weekend, insisting that a report on the booing last month of Julius Malema at the SACP special conference “had no status”.
He said Sexwale was “grandstanding” when he contradicted the official line from the ANC’s weekend lekgotla and had picked a fight on a “non-issue”.
“It is very regrettable that some faceless people leaked this unprocessed document to the media for purposes and intentions only known to them,” Mantashe said of the report.
Sexwale hit back last night, saying that Mantashe, “who is at the centre of this controversy, chooses to trivialise” the matter. “I can only appeal to him, under the circumstances, to try to maintain his dignity as secretary-general of our organisation,” he said.
The conflict between senior ANC leaders over the status of the report points to deep divisions in the ruling party, in part linked to the presidential succession race which culminates at the ANC’s 2012 elective conference.
On Monday Justice Minister Jeff Radebe , the ANC’s policy head, said Sexwale’s report was “not an ANC report but a report of one member ”.
He and Mantashe said Sexwale’s report had not been discussed at the lekgotla. It had been distributed but was later retrieved.
Yesterday Sexwale was quoted in The Times contradicting Radebe, saying any suggestion his report had no status was “false and dubious ”.
Mantashe repeated yesterday that a “composite” document based on input from all ANC members who attended the SACP gathering would be compiled and discussed at the ANC’s national working committee. It would also be discussed at a bilateral meeting between the ANC and the SACP.
Political analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies Aubrey Matshiqi said the latest spat could be interpreted as Sexwale wanting to impose his findings on the ANC. “If it is a dispute over content, it could well be an attempt by Sexwale to impose his conclusion and findings on the ANC. The question is, to what end?”
Matshiqi said it was possible Sexwale wanted to “bolster the political fortunes” of a particular faction in the ANC ahead of the elective conference.
“(The) 2012 (conference) looms large and there are forces that seek to dislodge Mantashe. They know that they cannot go for Zuma so the next best thing is to take out Mantashe as a way to dislodge the ANC’s top six.”
The ANC Youth League, which has accused Mantashe of being “conflicted” given that he is also the SACP national chairman, has denied reports that it is leading an anti-Mantashe campaign.
- BusinessDay - News Worth Knowing
Yesterday Mantashe issued a statement, the second since the weekend, insisting that a report on the booing last month of Julius Malema at the SACP special conference “had no status”.
He said Sexwale was “grandstanding” when he contradicted the official line from the ANC’s weekend lekgotla and had picked a fight on a “non-issue”.
“It is very regrettable that some faceless people leaked this unprocessed document to the media for purposes and intentions only known to them,” Mantashe said of the report.
Sexwale hit back last night, saying that Mantashe, “who is at the centre of this controversy, chooses to trivialise” the matter. “I can only appeal to him, under the circumstances, to try to maintain his dignity as secretary-general of our organisation,” he said.
The conflict between senior ANC leaders over the status of the report points to deep divisions in the ruling party, in part linked to the presidential succession race which culminates at the ANC’s 2012 elective conference.
On Monday Justice Minister Jeff Radebe , the ANC’s policy head, said Sexwale’s report was “not an ANC report but a report of one member ”.
He and Mantashe said Sexwale’s report had not been discussed at the lekgotla. It had been distributed but was later retrieved.
Yesterday Sexwale was quoted in The Times contradicting Radebe, saying any suggestion his report had no status was “false and dubious ”.Mantashe repeated yesterday that a “composite” document based on input from all ANC members who attended the SACP gathering would be compiled and discussed at the ANC’s national working committee. It would also be discussed at a bilateral meeting between the ANC and the SACP.
Political analyst at the Centre for Policy Studies Aubrey Matshiqi said the latest spat could be interpreted as Sexwale wanting to impose his findings on the ANC. “If it is a dispute over content, it could well be an attempt by Sexwale to impose his conclusion and findings on the ANC. The question is, to what end?”
Matshiqi said it was possible Sexwale wanted to “bolster the political fortunes” of a particular faction in the ANC ahead of the elective conference.
“(The) 2012 (conference) looms large and there are forces that seek to dislodge Mantashe. They know that they cannot go for Zuma so the next best thing is to take out Mantashe as a way to dislodge the ANC’s top six.”
The ANC Youth League, which has accused Mantashe of being “conflicted” given that he is also the SACP national chairman, has denied reports that it is leading an anti-Mantashe campaign.
- BusinessDay - News Worth Knowing
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