MAGASHULE SUPPORTERS DISRUPT THE ANC NEC OVER A DEADLINE FOR HIM TO STEP ASIDE

The general view was that Ace Magashule needed to vacate the ANC's secretary general's office within a week or face suspension.

ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule addresses a media briefing after his appearance in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on fraud and corruption charges on 19 February 2021. Picture: Xanderleigh Dookey Makhaza/Eyewitness News .

Tshidi Madia 

JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress national executive committee meeting was on Sunday night disrupted and forced to pause as pro-secretary general Ace Magashule’s supporters objected to a seven-day deadline for him and others facing corruption and other serious charges to step aside.

Eyewitness News understands the general view at the NEC meeting was that Magashule needed to vacate office within a week, otherwise his deputy, Jessie Duarte, would have to suspend him.

The ANC's highest decision-making body sat this weekend for an ordinary NEC meeting.

Party officials had to meet on the sidelines of the meeting just before their president, Cyril Ramaphosa, was due to publicly deliver his closing address.

The ANC has been divided over its 2017 resolution for those criminally charged to step aside Magashule was charged with corruption over the failed multimillion-rand asbestos project during his tenure as premier of Free State.

The ANC's integrity commission recommeded last year that Magashule should step down with immediate effect. Failing to do so, the NEC should suspend him

On Saturday, former president Thabo Mbeki also raised concerns over the office Magashule occupies, saying it was currently the weakest in ANC history.