He is vowing to fight and expose what he believes were “unprincipled activities” during DD Mabuza’s Mpumalanga term.
eMalahleni multi-millionaire Themba ‘Masofa’ Sgudla has said that he is joining one of the ANC factions currently in court as a friend of the court, assisting with evidence of alleged wrongdoing he witnessed while he was deputy president DD Mabuza’s friend.
The controversial eMalahleni millionaire, known for treating harshly those who stand in his way, says the election of the ANC’s national executive committee in Nasrec on 18 December 2017 was “illegitimate” and that his organisation the Practical Radical Economic Transformation (PRET) will now fight the NEC decision that removed Jacob Zuma as President of the South Africa on 14 February 2018.
Sgudla spoke to 013NEWS this week and said the fight against the leadership of Mabuza and ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa “is on” and doesn’t just happen now because there is elections.
He said his PRET has taken a decision to join the court case as a friend of the court in order to provide the court with evidence of the alleged fraud committed by ANC Mpumalanga structures through the creation of bogus branches in the lead-up to the party’s 2015 provincial congress that elected Mabuza for a third term.
Last week the Mpumalanga High Court in Mbombela heard heads of arguments from both the current PEC and the faction led by Peter Nyoni that wants the Mpumalanga PEC disbanded.
Sgudla said he knows how the “fraud got carried out” allegedly by Mabuza and his henchmen in the province, an activity he was apparently part of, and was “happy to assist the court and everybody else” get to the bottom of the entire Mpumalanga political issue.
Last month Sgudla made startling claims while addressing traditional leaders in the KwaNdebele area of Mpumalanga of how he knows of Mabuza’s skeletons in the closet and how there was no way if they called Mabuza to the Zondo commission they would not call him.
He said that he had been “there with the man” and “they call him, they also call me. And I will do the same because I have been there with the man”.
The applicants in the matter to disband the Mpumalanga ANC are led by chairmanship hopeful Peter Nyoni and are arguing that an NEC resolution from 2015 instructing the then PEC to align the two regions of Bohlabela and eHlanzeni into one in line with government demarcation was not followed. Therefore, the Mpumalanga delegates that elected the 54th ANC national leadership were “bogus”.
“PRET has an interest in this case because we believe we can assist the court,” Sgudla said over the phone.
“We are joining as friend of the court as we believe that the ANC’s 54th national congress was unconstitutional because it was constituted by bogus branches. We know how those branches were created and we have proof, we were part of it. We were the businessmen there,” Sgudla said.
“The former secretary general Gwede Mantashe was aware that Mpumalanga never passed the audit, he was aware that his office’s instruction to align the regions and branches was not implemented. I know who are the people who were conducting the audit.
“So its our view that the NEC that recalled president Jacob Zuma is an illegitimate NEC which had no right to recall a democratically elected president,” said Sgudla.
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“We are currently consulting with our lawyers with a view to file urgent court papers because should we be successful, and it also means that the date of 8th May that was declared by Ramaphosa for elections is illegal as he is not a legitimate president.
“We want Zuma reinstated because he was removed by an unconstitutional NEC and if our call is not heeded, then we will challenge the legitimacy and outcomes of these elections,” Sgudla added.
ANC spokeswoman Sasekani Manzini declined to comment saying the matter was before court.
“We have not been informed of PRET’s legal action and therefore have no comment, we will deal with the court process,” she said
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Nyoni said they welcome Sgudla’s support of their court case although they believe it’s a “tad bit too late”.
“The arguments were presented and the case was heard last week, we wish his support had come sooner. From where we are sitting we are now waiting for the judgement and it will be delivered no later than 15 April 2019,” Nyoni said.
(edited by MLM)
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