The African National Congress (ANC) has taken action against Fikile Mbalula, a member of the governing party, following his controversial comments about the fire pool at former president Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.
Mbalula dropped a bombshell over a week ago while addressing members of the ANC at Mjindi Town Hall in Barberton, admitting that members of the ANC had lied to parliament about the Nkandla fire pool.
Reports suggest that the ANC’s highest decision-making body, the National Executive Committee (NEC), believes that Mbalula’s comments were campaigning against the party. As a result, there is a strong view within the NEC that Mbalula should be given guidelines before speaking to the media.
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An insider reportedly stated, “We think he forgets that he is not our boss. The boss is the NEC, and the president is the main boss; we will discuss it at the next NEC meeting because we believe he is ‘de-campaigning’ the ANC. The office of the secretary-general is the highest office, and he must respect that.”
Gwede Mantashe, the ANC chairperson, criticized Mbalula for his comments, suggesting that he was carried away by the presence of journalists when he made the remarks about Zuma.
Mantashe stated, “I listened very carefully to what the secretary-general said. He is my secretary-general. I thought he was carried away by yourself, guys. He saw the cameras and got carried away and said things he should not have said.”
In response to Mantashe’s criticism, Mbalula defended himself and took a swipe at Mantashe, emphasizing that the ANC has protocols. Mbalula said, “The national chair, we have protocols.
I have been trying to get hold of him [Mantashe] the whole day, but I understand we’re in the field and I couldn’t get hold of him. We’ve got protocols, we don’t talk past each other, we don’t talk in the media, and we don’t promote public spats.”
Political analyst Professor Andre Duvenhage from North-West University commented on Mbalula’s actions, suggesting that as a loyalist of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Mbalula was trying to safeguard Ramaphosa using an “extremely counterproductive” approach. Duvenhage further stated that Mbalula’s announcements, including this one, were problematic.
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