Xiluva's Baloyi details fallout with Moseki, who claims party boss is an 'ANC stooge'

Xiluva leader Bongani Baloyi has revealed details of the fallout between him and his now former chairperson, Tlhogi Moseki.

From lack of experience and inability to write, to an unapproved two-week sabbatical, Baloyi has revealed why Moseki, who has since joined another political party, left Xiluva merely four months after its formation.

According to Baloyi, he realised Moseki had shortcomings as a chairperson, which he felt would hinder the growth and direction of the party.

When he confronted Moseki about having a discussion on different roles he would play in the party, Baloyi alleges Moseki stopped taking his calls, only responding in WhatsApp voice notes, and took almost two weeks’ leave of absence.

“When I tried to have a conversation with him the fellow took almost a sabbatical of about nine days or something like that, and I said, let's talk, let's find a way of doing this thing, and he just didn't respond, and we moved on,” said Baloyi.

Baloyi and Moseki have still not had a discussion, according to Baloyi, and he has since joined Abel Tau at The Transformation Alliance as national chairperson.

“He stopped answering calls, just responding in voice notes, and I said, but you can't run an organisation through voice notes. When things become difficult, we sit around the table,” he said.

However, Moseki has made counterclaims against Baloyi, saying he was being dishonest and that their fallout was due to Xiluva’s alleged close ties with the ANC.

He said he and Baloyi had been in meetings with some ANC bigwigs that made him uncomfortable and had raised concerns about Xiluva seemingly becoming an ANC “stooge”.

“The reality is that I have sat in meetings with top leaders of the ANC with Bongani, and I then had to take stock and posed questions to him, saying please come clean, are we a project of certain individuals here or are we a party that is going to be run by both myself and yourself?” said Moseki.

Moseki confirms he stopped taking Baloyi's calls at some point, but this he said was because Baloyi was not being forthright on his concerns about the close ties with the ANC and later learnt through a press statement that he had been replaced as national chair.

“There's no truth to that, the reason I was not answering his calls, I would have given him an ultimatum to say to him, I'm not going to continue to serve in this party until you have made those matters clear. Instead he began telling me about those people being funders, and you can't risk [a relationship] with your funders and what not,” said Moseki.

“So there was not such thing as that, he has never called me to say come let's discuss the matter. He was just saying he wanted to pin me down to understand why we should keep engaging these guys, we should keep them on our side and as to why they are going to assist us. And I made it very clear to him ... if these people are going to be the driving force behind this party, I am not going to participate — simple as that.”

Baloyi’s close ties with some ANC leaders, especially in Gauteng, were also said to have caused friction between him and ActionSA leaders, a party he left earlier this year.

ActionSA had taken a posture that the party would not have any political negotiations with the ANC, but Baloyi, as then chair of Gauteng, did not agree, and it was alleged he had cosied up to ANC provincial players, leading to a fallout with ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba.

On Moseki’s departure, Baloyi said: “We confirm and we saw he's joined another party, and we wish him well. There's no bad blood or anything, and we appreciate the contribution he has made to Xiluva.”

“But where we are right now, we are actually focused. The institution has taken shape and requires somebody with a corporate background to assist in building the constitution, to put systems in place, processes in place, to maintain discipline and ensure there's coherence in leadership.”

Baloyi said he had already replaced Moseki with a new chairperson, Zuki Mosiane.

Baloyi believed Moseki was not equipped with the requisite skills to be party chairperson.

“Effectively I had to take over the role of the chair because he could not, he had limitations in writing, so I had to be both chair and president while he was just more concerned about public-facing things and mobilising. And doing this requires a much deeper understanding in building institutions.”

But Moseki has disputed this as “pure lies”, saying he has experience in governance and had been an MMC before, and his replacement had nothing to do with his shortcomings.

“There was not even a courtesy to say to me, 'I'm releasing you.' There was only the two of us. He would have had to say, 'I'm releasing you from your duties and I'm getting a new person to take over,'” said Moseki.

“So the reality is that he was unable to answer those critical questions and come clean. I'm coming from the ANC, I served in ANC until 2019 when I left to join ActionSA. If I want to join the ANC I will go back to the branch and participate from there, but I'm not going to be a stooge that is going to have to serve through some projects which are meant to save the ANC post-2024. That's the reality that he is not telling you guys.”

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