Africa-Press – South-Africa. ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe has accused the ANC in Mpumalanga of misleading the late deputy president David Mabuza into challenging Cyril Ramaphosa for the party’s presidency at the ANC national conference in December 2022.
Addressing a memorial service of Mabuza in Mpumalanga, Mantashe said that they had tried to convince him to contest for a second term as the deputy president instead of challenging Ramaphosa.
However, the ANC in Mpumalanga had already convinced him that he could clinch the coveted position of party president.
This is why Mantashe could not support his ambition as he was at the time campaigning for Ramaphosa to be re-elected as ANC president.
“The Santaco representative says I never supported DD [Mabuza] for the second term [as ANC deputy president]. I think I must correct that,” said Mantashe.
“You are the ones who misled DD, including people from here in Mpumalanga and you said he must contest the presidency and that Paul [Mashatile] must come in as his deputy president. You were leading him astray. We begged that DD continue for a second term as deputy president, but you had already convinced him that he would be the president. You misled him.”
Mantashe, Mabuza and Deputy President Mashatile had worked together ahead of the ANC 2017 conference and successfully installed Ramaphosa as party president.
The trio agreed that instead of having the Mpumalanga delegates vote for either Ramaphosa or his opponent Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, they should rather split their votes in the name of uniting the party.
This propelled Ramaphosa to the party’s presidency but pitted Mabuza against former president Jacob Zuma who had been backing Dlamini-Zuma’s campaign.
Mabuza and Zuma were allies dating back to 2007 and later when the all-powerful Premier League — a conglomerate of premiers of Mpumalanga, the North West and the Free State — were Zuma’s backers.
The premiers were Mabuza, Supra Mahumapelo and Ace Magashule. The splitting of the Mpumalanga votes at the conference was therefore seen as Mabuza having sold out Zuma.
Mantashe told the memorial service that he was one of the people who convinced Mabuza to split the Mpumalanga votes ahead of the 2017 conference.
“In 2017, for Mpumalanga to be the deciding factor at that conference, I took a journey and went to a farm in Barberton, I locked DD in and said look Mpumalanga must not vote for either [Ramaphosa or Dlamini-Zuma], tell them to vote for whoever they want. He agreed and announced it at a PGC [provincial general council] that weekend. That shifted the outcome of 2017,” said Mantashe.
“So DD was not a neutral person who was indifferent, but he allowed himself to be persuaded and he was also a persuader. We told him to get in here [Ramaphosa’s side] and we’ll make you deputy president, and we did. I’m not saying they put him there, I’m saying we put him there and made him deputy president.”
Mabuza will be buried in a state funeral category two on Saturday in his hometown of Barberton in Mpumalanga where president Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver his eulogy.
Mabuza died at a Sandton hospital on Thursday after having breathing complications.
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