
He says he is shocked that those who are campaigning for CR17 are now using his name to confuse and create problems in the region.
Nkangala ANC chairman Speedy Mashilo has reacted to weekend reports that he is someone who supports Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa for the ANC presidency.
An emotional Mashilo spoke to 013NEWS on Monday afternoon.
He said he saw the TimesLive report on Monday mid-day and was shocked that those “who want to campaign for a particular view” are dragging his name in the mud.
“That’s utter nonsense,” he said of the report.
“Literally nonsense,” Mashilo said.
He said this was a “direct campaign for CR17 at my expense. Where do they get this thing that I support CR17? Why didn’t they phone and ask me for comment?” Mashilo said.
The TimesLive reported on Sunday that some quarters of ANC branches in the region are angry that Mashilo lives in Gauteng while serving in Mpumalanga and were calling for an early conference for him to be removed as the chairman of the ANC in the Mpumalanga region of Nkangala.
SEE HERE: Report: Speedy Mashilo supports CR17
Mashilo was re-elected four months ago as the leader of Mpumalanga’s economic hub.
The paper quotes an ANC branch leader who says Mashilo is secretly a CR17 supporter and is part of a cabal destabilising the region to boost support for CR17. It adds he has ambition of being Mpumalanga Premier should Ramaphosa win in December.
The paper said the ANC provincial executive committee is due to meet this week where the removal of Mashilo as chairman of the ANC in Nkangala will be discussed.
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ANC provincial spokeswoman Sasekani Manzini said they know nothing about a PEC meeting to sit and discuss stripping Mashilo off his chairmanship.
In an sms reply to questions, she wrote: ‘”We know nothing about this thing”.
Mashilo said he was speaking to his legal team for advice to take the TimesLive to the Press Ombudsman for “distorting my name” and not calling him for comment.
“Utter nonsense! Nonsense,” Mashilo repeatedly said.
“They can’t just campaign for CR17 using my name. I’m very angry they must know,” he said.
He said as a chair of the region he presided over a regional executive committee meeting that resolved to support unity and didn’t know where those who were saying he supports CR17 got that from.
He labelled the branch leader quoted in the report as “demagogues campaigning for a particular view” at his expense.
“Why say I want to be Premier? Where is comrade DD going? We never pronounced as a region he must go. So that story is fiction,” said Mashilo.
He said he lives in KwaMhlanga where his state security officers are posted and also own a house in Bronkhostspruit, Gauteng but doesn’t live there.
Mashilo is the MEC of Human Settlements in the Mpumalanga province.
“All I can say is that they are faceless demagogues trying to confuse and create problems in the region. We are watching them,” Mashilo said.
(edited by ZK)
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