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DA wants urgent parliamentary debate on 'farcical merry-go-round of suspensions' in ANC

'Ace Magashule and his fellow bandits will not hesitate to burn our country to the ground to hang onto their ill-gotten gains,' charged DA leader John Steenhuisen. File photo.
'Ace Magashule and his fellow bandits will not hesitate to burn our country to the ground to hang onto their ill-gotten gains,' charged DA leader John Steenhuisen. File photo.
Image: Esa Alexander/Sunday Times

The DA has described events unfolding in the ruling party as a “farcical merry-go-round of suspensions and counter-suspensions”.

The controversy began on Wednesday with ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule's suspension from the party after failing to vacate his position in line with the party's step aside resolution. This was followed by a leaked letter, authored by Magushule, “suspending” President Cyril Ramaphosa.   

DA leader John Steenhuisen said this was tantamount to a civil war in which the real victims would be ordinary citizens.

“Last night, we saw the first shots fired in what is set to become a fight to the death inside the ANC. But make no mistake about it: none of the factions involved in this war are fighting for the people of SA. They are all fighting for control over the industrial-scale patronage machine that the ANC has become. And because the ANC is still the majority party in SA, the damage will inevitably spill-over into our society, which is already suffering under the greatest health and economic crisis of our lifetime.

“The reality is that the people of SA will be the true victims of this civil war if we don’t urgently end the era of ANC political domination,” he said on Thursday. 

The party criticised Magashule's behaviour and argued that Ramaphosa's strategy of putting the party first had failed.

“It is clear that Ace Magashule and his fellow bandits will not hesitate to burn our country to the ground to hang onto their ill-gotten gains and stay out of jail. On the other hand, it is clear that Cyril Ramaphosa’s feeble strategy of appeasement has backfired spectacularly on a president who puts the preservation of his party over the interests of our country.” 

Steenhuisen said the DA would table an urgent parliamentary debate on the developments. 

“The ANC and the vision of a prosperous SA can no longer coexist. That is why I will be calling for an urgent debate of national importance in parliament on the threat posed to our democracy by the civil war inside the governing party and the need for us to realign our politics to save our country. 

“We have arrived at a time for choosing, and the DA unashamedly chooses to put the rights, needs, and future of South Africans first,” he added. 

The developments may be the subject of discussion at the Nation Assembly, where Ramaphosa is expected to answer MPs' questions on Thursday

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