Mavuso Msimang backtracks on resignation after ANC agrees to exclude leaders implicated in state capture

The ANC has indicated that Mavuso Msimang will continue serving the party and after a meeting on Tuesday 12 December facilitated by the Veterans League. 

In a statement issued by the governing party on Thursday, the organisation also noted that its Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula regrets utterances he made about the Msimang in the public domain.

“In this regard, we are pleased that comrade Msimang has agreed to withdraw his resignation and will continue to speak up against any malfeasance impacting the interests of society.

"The ANC will continuously seek the wise counsel of the elders of the ANC in whose footsteps we walk. The SG regrets that he made comments that impugned the integrity of Cde Msimang, suggesting that he was vulnerable to taking a bribe from a newly established political formation, or, for that matter, any other source,” party spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said.

The ANC has also committed to deal swiftly with ill-disciplined members including those implicated in state capture.

“In addressing the concerns of ANC members, and, indeed all South Africans, the leadership of the ANC will act with urgency to address the unethical behaviour and ill-discipline of members, including leaders of the party.

“We are determined that only members whose reputations are beyond reproach will be included in our list of candidates for Parliament and Provincial Legislatures. This means that those implicated by the Zondo Commission will not be included in our lists if their names have not been cleared by the ANC Integrity Commission,” the statement reads.

Read more in Daily Maverick: ANCYL leader adds his disapproval over party veteran Mavuso Msimang’s resignation

Mbalula last week said the veterans were campaigning against the party instead of using their direct line to the ANC’s leadership to discuss their concerns. 

Msimang then sent his resignation letter last week to ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula and his assistant and within hours it was leaked on ANC WhatsApp groups.

In the letter, Msimang raised a myriad of issues which the party had failed to tackle. This includes the party allowing its members implicated in State Capture to be nominated to serve in Parliament and provincial legislatures in next year’s elections.

Mbalula then accused Msimang of having submitted his resignation via the media and said the former Veterans’ League deputy president was likely to join outgoing FirstRand CEO Roger Jardine’s new party, Change Starts Now.

Read more in Daily Maverick: ANC veteran of 60 years Mavuso Msimang ‘painfully’ severs ties, tenders devastating resignation

To which Msimang responded via a video. Msimang denied he was joining Change Starts Now, but said Jardine had consulted him before the party was formed.

“Well, first of all,” he said, “I have not joined any party, and secondly, it’s insulting to suggest that I accepted a bribe. Another deliberate lie of Mbalula’s is that I announced my resignation from ANC through the media. He knows very well that around 3.50pm on December 6, I sent an email to himself and to his PA, exclusively at Luthuli House.

“It’s only when I was called by [the] media that I responded to confirm the veracity of this … letter. I had to control the narrative of my resignation. It’s really a pity that the ANC has a person like Mbalula as its secretary-general. It’s an embarrassment.”

Attempts to get an immediate response from Msimang were not successful at the time of publication. DM

This is a developing story and may be updated.