African National Congress (ANC) heavyweights Tokyo Sexwale and Gwede Mantashe were openly at odds on Wednesday over Sexwale’s report on the booing of ANC members at a South African Communist Party (SACP) conference last year.
Mantashe, the ANC’s secretary general, said in a statement it was “unfortunate” that Sexwale — a national executive committee (NEC) member of the party — had opted to “take on a fight on a non-issue”.
This was after Sexwale denied that his report on the booing incident held “no status” with the party.
Meanwhile, Sexwale said that Mantashe was “trivialis[ing] an “important” matter by criticising him.
The spat over the status of the report began after a media briefing was held on Monday to report back on a weekend ANC NEC lekgotla (meeting).
On the weekend, the Sunday Independent reported that at the lekgotla, Sexwale had blamed Mantashe and SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande for failing to contain the tensions in the alliance.
The newspaper reported that Sexwale called on President Jacob Zuma to unite the alliance before the ANC imploded.
However, at Monday’s briefing, Mantashe and ANC policy chief Jeff Radebe said that the report compiled by Sexwale into the booing of ANC Youth League president Julius Malema and NEC member Billy Masetlha at the SACP’s special conference in Polokwane last month was not discussed at the lekgotla.
On Tuesday, the party issued a statement saying that the report was not discussed at the weekend lekgotla but that it was “retrieved” and “referred for processing” by the party’s national working committee. Input by other delegates present at the SACP conference would also be obtained, it said in a statement. A “composite report” of all delegates at the conference would then be presented to the NEC ahead of bilateral talks with the SACP.
On Wednesday, the Times then quoted Sexwale as saying the report did hold weight in the party. “Any suggestion that the report has no status in the ANC is false and dubious,” the newspaper reported Sexwale as saying.
“In fact, it is mischievous to attempt to disown this report,” Sexwale’s office said in a statement to the paper.
“Its drafting [the report] was approved on the clear understanding that it would be circulated to members of the ANC NEC, by the secretary general, for discussion. This was confirmed in a discussion between Sexwale and Mantashe this morning.”
The squabbling over the report, the newspaper reported, was the latest sign of struggle between the ANC’s leftist and nationalist factions.
On Wednesday, Mantashe issued a statement reiterating that the report was “referred for processing” by the party’s national working committee and would be submitted as a “composite report” presented to the NEC ahead of bilateral talks with the SACP.
“Any statements and comments that deviate from the factual account as put above should be construed as nothing else either than grandstanding,” said Mantashe.
“It is unfortunate that Comrade Tokyo Sexwale chose to take on a fight on a non-issue,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sexwale said Mantashe’s comments were “unfortunate” in themselves.
“It is unfortunate that Comrade Gwede Mantashe, who is at the centre of this controversy, chooses to trivialise a matter as important as the discussion which is coming before the national working committee and eventually the national executive committee.
“I can only appeal to him, under the circumstances, to try to maintain his dignity as secretary general of our organisation,” said Sexwale in a statement. — Sapa