ANC national chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, has come out gun blazing in support of embattled President Cyril Ramaphosa amid rumours that the incumbent was planning to tender his resignation last night in the wake of the section 89 report into the Phala-Phala farm robbery.
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Ramaphosa was meant to address the nation last night following mounting pressure from his political opponents, and it is understood that three provincial chairpersons namely, Mandla Ndlovu (Mpumalanga), Oscar Mabuyane (Eastern Cape), and Dr. Zamani Saul (Northern Cape) persuaded him into reconsidering his decision.
Meanwhile, Mantashe, who is a huge ally of the president has come out to defend him, telling Newzroom Afrika’s Xoli Mngambi that the president should not resign or step aside as the report of the panel did not have a constitutional mandate to find him guilty.
“That report of the panel that is why it does not use the word ‘should’ or ‘have to’, it uses the word ‘may’ because it knows that it cannot take the decision to find the president guilty or not. Therefore, it only opens the way for the parliament to start a process to interogate that space,” Mantashe said.
Mantashe furthermore added that the party is set to hold a special NEC this afternoon, wherein they will discuss the report extensively, and that it would be premature for him to just be allowed to step down without due process.
“The issue at play now is that we are going to the NEC, and we will table the report, and my own view as Gwede, I do not think he must step out and leave now. He must allow the process to take its course and take a decision,” he added.
Suffice it to say, Ramaphosa is not packing his bags just yet, and given that the NEC is mostly made up of his allies, it appears unlikely that he will resign.
And it’s worth noting that these events are taking place just two weeks before the ANC’s much-anticipated national conference, at which Mantashe will be running for re-election as national chair.