Africa-Press – South-Africa. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has defended his deputy president, Paul Mashatile, arguing the “plot” against Mashatile will not succeed.
According to Mbalula, the party viewed the recent articles about Mashatile’s life in a serious light and he would be requested to answer to it.
On Sunday, he addressed a press briefing on the ANC’s national executive committee outcomes.
Asked about Mashatile, Mbalula said if there were any integrity questions the party would step in.
“All that we are seeing is claims and stories about the deputy president.
“We are looking at it, to the extent that it is a political campaign aimed at annihilating an individual. We are observing it with keen interest.
“Never again will we come to a stage when political leaders of the ANC are subjected to these shenanigans,” he added.
Mbalula, however, said ANC members should answer for what they are accused of.
“When people say that Mbalula owes somebody R3 million, I must answer. But I know the story, where it comes from. I can tell you where it comes from, but I will answer. I must answer. The ANC cannot answer for something that I do.
“The ANC does not know when I sit at night with crooks and ask for R3 million. The ANC does not know that. I must answer.”
He reiterated those found to be committing “wrongdoings” should answer to the party’s integrity commission.
“That is what society wants. Then on the basis of your answers you must be cleared [or not].
“If it is a political campaign, we will see it for what it is, because it will not succeed. Even journalists, we know that somebody gives you a dossier, you write. We can’t blame journalists,” he added.
News24 revealed Mashatile led a life of luxury and seeming excess, using multimillion-rand homes owned by tenderpreneurs and beneficiaries of government contracts on Cape Town’s exclusive Atlantic Seaboard to entertain a string of lovers and friends.
He was also thrust into the spotlight after members of his security detail were recently caught assaulting motorists.
Mashatile defended his association with Edwin Sodi, involved in allegations of corruption, and Ndavhe Mareda, a supplier of coal to Eskom, saying he had known the pair for years.
Last Sunday, City Press reported Mashatile said those conspiring against him had set a deadline of August to remove him.
He refused to name the plotters behind the campaign to unseat him three months after assuming the deputy presidency.
Mashatile said he was still trying to investigate the motives of those who had tried to block him from being elected deputy president of the country and who had then tried to remove him after President Cyril Ramaphosa had appointed him.
Ramaphosa confronted Mashatile over claims there was a plot to oust him from office.
Ramaphosa, who has the power to appoint and fire his deputy, has squarely rejected Mashatile’s assertion, saying there was “no truth or substance” to Mashatile’s claims.
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