Mantashe warns against publicly mocking Ramaphosa

As more ANC leaders gather in Nasrec this weekend for the party’s NEC meeting, ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe has urged party members to refrain from raising issues on public platforms.

Mantashe, who is present, spoke out against the public spats that have plagued the ordinary political meeting, which has debated the Phala Phala farm scandal, among other issues, ahead of the 55th national elective conference next month.

Mantashe stated that the NEC meeting and other structures exist to ventilate issues that many members of the ANC wish to raise, and that these are the proper channels for doing so. Mantashe was speaking to members of the media on the sidelines of the NEC meeting, which has seen some call for Ramaphosa to step down while others within the ANC believe he should stay.

Mantashe warned current and former ANC leaders such as Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, and Kgalema Motlanthe, among others, to avoid public squabbles.

“We are having an ANC NEC meeting. This is where we raise issues and discuss them. If you have a view and your view does not persist, I can give you a list of people who raised this in the ANC NEC that President Cyril Ramaphosa must step aside and be defeated in the NEC, but still go to the media to get weight of the media behind them,” he said.

He went on to say that this was not how ANC leaders and members in good standing should act.

“It does not work that way. You go to the structure then it becomes a decision of the organisation,” Mantashe added.

The Phala Phala scandal, which has dominated headlines since Arthur Fraser filed a report with Rosebank police in June, remains a source of contention within the party. Some are calling for Ramaphosa to step down, while many in his faction support his second term come the elective conference next month at the same venue. As the NEC meeting continues today, the issue will be discussed further.

Ramaphosa told party leaders during his political viewpoint report on Friday that the Phala Phala money was proceeds from the sale of game and that the transactions were legal.