Ace Magashule’s ‘misleading letter’ blamed for anarchy in Bay

ANC Eastern Cape chair Oscar Mabuyane has blamed the office of party secretary-general Ace Magashule for the “anarchy” in Nelson Mandela Bay.

This, as the region drew battle lines, as well as a line in the sand, defying the Mabuyaneled provincial executive decision to disband the troubled region and replace it with a regional task team late in October.

The task team would have managed the party’s affairs going into 2019’s general and provincial elections.

The secretary of the disbanded regional executive committee, Themba Xathula, has written to the national executive committee asking for the decision to disband the structure to be reversed.

A meeting with the provincial working committee was disrupted a week ago and the party’s Thuma Mina programme was shelved on Sunday.

In an interview on the sidelines of the national working committee meeting at the East London ICC, Mabuyane bemoaned the “confusion” that had apparently been caused by Magashule.

Mabuyane said the basis for the confusion was a letter Magashule wrote two weeks ago, banning senior structures from dissolving lower structures. “This was misleading. “And we have discussed the matter at length at the last NEC meeting.

“This letter is the root cause of the anarchy playing out in ANC structures in Nelson Mandela Bay.

“We are here to defend our decision to disband that structure.

“But if this meeting has a different view after facts are presented this afternoon [Monday], then we will abide by the decision of the higher structure,” Mabuyane said.