The ANC Ekurhuleni regional chairperson and mayor Mzwandile Masina has backtracked yet again on his threat to resign.

Sowetan has it on good authority that Masina told the party's Ekurhuleni regional executive committee (REC) in a meeting on Tuesday that he was withdrawing the threat to resign.

This came after the REC called an urgent meeting to address Masina’s Twitter outburst where called the ANC a “coward” organisation which he said can either remove him or he will resign from all his positions.

His outburst came as the ANC rebuked him for saying that he agreed with his friend and EFF leader Julius Malema against the reopening of the economy and the nationalisation of the economy as such views were contradicting the official party policies.

Masina then took to Twitter and to the REC’s official Whatsapp group where he said he would not lead an organisation of cowards and that he will tender his resignation today.

“No he is not resigning. Yes he is backtracking because he told all of you that he was resigning. So if he is not resigning then he simply has backtracked,” an ANC REC senior official told the Sowetan.

The official said that the matter was discussed at length in a five-hour meeting marathon meeting where he explained why he made such remarks.             

“He is no more resigning. He retracts and that’s it. He told us the position why he made those statements and all that.”

Masina’s Twitter outburst caught the attention of senior ANC leaders who have dared him to express the same “courage” directly to the party.

A senior ANC leader on Monday told SowetanLIVE that the courage Masina showed on Twitter and Whatsapp, where he dared the ANC to remove him, must be shown when he addresses the party.

Masina on Monday dared the party to remove him from his position after he was rebuked for saying that he was with Malema against the reopening of the economy and the nationalisation of the economy.

The ANC said views such as these confused the party’s constituency on policies of the party.

“He was not talking to the ANC. He was talking to social media. The ANC is at Luthuli House. He can address us, he can write those things to us. We are an organisation, we are not a social media organisation,” the party official said.

“So that courage he can write it down and express it to us. So you don’t address the ANC on social media. If he wants to address us, he can write to us he knows our address.”

The ANC in the province has also asked Masina and the REC, which met yesterday, to send a report regarding their discussion with him.

Provincial secretary Jacob Khawe said they had also requested Masina to send a compilation of his tweets made before and after the ANC rebuked him on Monday in order to dispel claims that he was hacked.

“We said we would prefer a briefing from the REC and secondly from him we requested the statement or the tweet he made before the reaction of the NEC on calling him to order and the ones he did after,” Khawe said.

“I was doing that deliberately because it’s better if I say send it to me. Because you know people tomorrow will say my Twitter was hacked by that time you are far in discussing something and the person comes and says it wasn’t me. So it’s better if as the organisation we ask him to send us your messages and your reaction.”

Deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte said the party had discussed his views with Masina but said she was not willing to discuss the conversation in public.

Sowetan however understands that Duarte had taken issue with Masina’s remarks which, according to the party’s statement, confused its constituency.

“The comments and views expressed by cde Mzwandile have been discussed with him. It will be wrong to make this conversation a matter for public debate. I cannot discuss Mzwandile, it is unethical for me to do so,” Duarte said.

However, ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said there had been no formal communication from Masina to the party contradicting Duarte.

“I’m not aware of such comments, you must appreciate that in the ANC if there are views expressed by any of our members of leaders which requires the attention of the leadership they will do so through our own organisational structures,” Mabe said.