Former ANC secretary general, Ace Magashule has described Fikile Mbalula as a boy in the ANC politics. The RET heavyweight said the new secretary general has a lot to learn.
Magashule said this ahead of his appearance in the Bloemfontein High Court on multiple graft charges relating to a R225 million asbestos tender project. He was accompanied by Carl Niehaus and his other comrades.
Former ANC secretary general Ace Magashule referred to his successor Fikile Mbalula as a boy. He said he is one of the people whom he groomed into politics. Magashule said Mbalula is now being disrespectful to him now that he has tasted power.
“He is one of the boys I was looking after. He is still a boy. He has talked to me about the past, and us not having a good relationship. I recorded him so that when you start running around you will be able to see that people who pretend are not what they say they are,” Ace Magashule said.
The ANC veteran said Fikile Mbalula sometimes disputes his revolutionary role in exile, but he has groomed him and other comrades when they were still young. Magashule also lamented that the ANC as a movement is losing support within the communities.
“He chooses what to say. Sometimes he says I was not in exile, but these are the boys I looked after. That movement was finished long ago. That movement you don’t see the leadership of the ANC among the people,” he said.
The corruption case of Ace Magashule has been dragging for a long time. He believes he is facing “trumped up charges”. He has long stated that he wants to stand trial, but the National Prosecuting Authority is still coming up with evidence.
Carl Niehaus and other comrades travelled from Gauteng to support Ace Magashule at the Bloemfontein High Court in Free State province.