African National Congress (ANC) party, South Africa’s historic ruling party, has suspended its Secretary-General, Ace Magashule on corruption charges.
A 30-day ultimatum was given to him on March 30 to step aside after being charged with embezzling public funds while he was premier of the Free State province.
He ignored the deadline and refused to resign voluntarily, forcing the party to suspend him.
Magashule was informed of his suspension in a letter signed by his deputy Jessie Duarte, deputy secretary-general of the African National Congress. “You are hereby temporarily suspended from 3 May 2021 until the final outcome of your legal proceedings”
The letter, dated Monday and leaked to the media on Wednesday, said the decision to suspend him would be “in the best interest of the organisation”.
Magashule however countered the suspension in a letter on Wednesday night sent to Ramaphosa and Duarte, saying he was “appealing this unconstitutional suspension” and that until the appeal was heard he would keep his job.
In a dramatic and strange outburst, he said he was invoking powers vested in him as the Secretary-General of the ANC, to “summarily” suspend Ramaphosa.
But the ANC immediately issued a statement saying its resolution stands and asked Magashule to “respect” the party’s decisions and “subject himself to the discipline of the organization”.