Ntshalintshali is shooting down Ndlovu for endorsing Ramaphosa before branches do so.
ANC PTT coordinator Lindiwe Ntshalintshali has ripped into the party’s interim provincial convener Mandla Ndlovu, saying his actions in endorsing President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term equate to undermining ANC branches in the Mpumalanga province.
Ntshalintshali said there was “no structural decision” to endorse Ramaphosa as President for a second term.
“You might want to undermine branches because they are seated down and you have the monopoly of the microphone and say we support this one and that one and they will not talk back,” the provincial interim co-ordinator said when she spoke to Mail & Guardian.
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Ndlovu endorsed Ramaphosa while he was on stage welcoming the President during a visit to branches in the Ehlanzeni region 7 March 2022.
But this has angered Ntshalintshali, the province’s second-in-command who has a soft spot for suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule.
She said it was “premature” of Ndlovu to create the impression that Mpumalanga was behind Ramaphosa when in fact branches had not say so.
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“Even the regional chairperson of Nkangala [Speedy Mashilo] tried the same but was [booed] by the branches [last month],” she told the national weekly.
“Very premature [to endorse Ramaphosa] because national [ANC] hasn’t yet opened this processes and our organizational culture says you cannot start discussing or debating an item that is not opened,” she was quoted saying on the SABC Monday just soon after Ndlovu endorsed Ramaphosa.
In April 2021, Ntshalintshali told Newzroom Afrika’s Stephen Grootes that the suspension of Magashule was unfair.
“I think it will be proper that the matter is handled in a manner that is correct,” Ntshalintshali said then.
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“How many more people are they going to level allegations against and at the end they are acquitted, hence we are saying that the decision should be implemented in a manner that doesn’t step on the toes of our Constitution.
“We don’t want to say people must step aside only to find that it was a witch-hunt and then the ANC takes a blame, hence we want to be thorough when we implement. Some of these matter are politically motivated, hence we are saying let’s follow the processes properly and not use courts to fight the processes of the ANC,” she said.
(edited by MLM)
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