Pretoria - The office of President Cyril Ramaphosa has remained silent after presidential hopeful and ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member Lindiwe Sisulu slammed its spokesperson Vincent Magwenya for “meddling in party internal matters”.
Sisulu, who is also Tourism Minister, in what appears to be a signal to Ramaphosa that the gloves are off in the run-up to the ANC 55th elective conference in December, last week called out Magwenya following her appeal for Ramaphosa to step aside pending the outcome of an investigation into the Phala Phala farm saga.
Sisulu along with other contenders, including Dr Zweli Mkhize and Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, are challenging Ramaphosa for the party’s presidency.
Magwenya had responded to Sisulu’s call for Ramaphosa to step aside, saying the Phala Phala farm scandal was under investigation and “you would expect Cabinet members to know better that we allow the investigations to be concluded before any pronouncements are made”.
Magwenya further claimed Sisulu’s criticism of Ramaphosa “was a reflection of her own performance”.
A statement issued by Sisulu’s spokesperson, Steve Motale, reminded Magwenya of Sisulu’s achievements and positions she has occupied.
“Before making such outlandish remarks, Magwenya would do well to familiarise himself with Minister Sisulu’s impeccable track record in all government portfolios she has occupied.
“Her achievements are way too many to mention in a single media statement. In her current portfolio, the Department of Tourism received an unqualified audit for the 2021/22 financial year, with a significant reduction in irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, as well as improved accountability and better consequence management.
“For someone claiming to speak on behalf of the Head of State to ignore this and choose to be a propagandist to boost his principal’s political fortunes is a scandal of monumental proportions. Minister Sisulu wants to put it on record that her criticism of President Ramaphosa is purely motivated by his poor performance as ANC leader. In fact, her criticism is not unique.
“President Ramaphosa’s three predecessors have publicly expressed disappointment with his president (sic) of the ANC and the country. Thus Minister Sisulu finds it strange that Magwenya, in his capacity as President Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, can parachute himself into a political party internal matter.”
Recently Ramaphosa’s predecessors publicly assaulted his presidency and leadership.
Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki laid into the incumbent over a litany of issues, with the former accusing Ramaphosa of corruption, treason and selling the constitution to “greedy friends”.
Motale continued to say one of the reasons Sisulu was contesting at the upcoming conference was because of the “dismal performance” by Ramaphosa as head of the ruling party.
“We have seen the party disbanding all its leagues representing an essential aspect of its ongoing existence. The minister deplores that the ANC, as a party under President Ramaphosa’s leadership, has failed to take the adopted resolutions seriously.
“Under his leadership, the movement finds itself in the proverbial intensive care unit. It is an administration that has entrenched the non-payment of its staff and also an organisation that has shown itself not to care about the plight of its workers. The myriad clouds hanging over President Ramaphosa’s head are also not doing the ANC any favours and are inflicting incalculable reputational damage on the movement.”
Magwenya ignored questions from Independent Media and did not pick up his phone, instead asking for a text message that he ignored.
Pretoria News