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There are rumours that the disciplinary committee has been told to suspend the comrade for two years. We believe that he is convinced that he is unwanted and will rather leave the party than to endure persecution. - source

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Sizwe sama Yende

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Mpumalanga ANC treasurer and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Mandla Msibi, could resign from the party should a disciplinary committee find him guilty on misconduct charges.

Sources close to Msibi told The People’s Eye that Msibi felt that his colleagues in the top five were hellbent on hounding him out of the party.

The party suspended Msibi on allegations relating to inciting residents from his stronghold of Pienaar to march against President Cyril Ramaphosa during the ANC’s January 8 celebrations in Mbombela.

He is accused of addressing a community gathering in Pienaar demanding that President Cyril Ramaphosa should address the community about the delay in the construction of a smart city called Nkosi City.

WATCH: Mpumalanga ANC treasurer, Mandla Msibi, addressing community members in Pienaar outside Mbombela. This is the evidence he has used in his defence on allegations that he was plotting to disrupt the January 8 celebration in Mbombela.

“There are rumours that the disciplinary committee has been told to suspend the comrade for two years. We believe that he is convinced that he is unwanted and will rather leave the party than to endure persecution,” a source said.

On Tuesday, Msibi’s supporters marched to the ANC’s provincial headquarters in Mbombela to put pressure on the party’s disciplinary committee to issue their verdict on Msibi whose political life has been in limbo. The protestors said that the committee had been dilly-dallying after previously promising to issue the verdict within seven days.

They however found the offices locked.

THE AIM IS TO ISOLATE MSIBI

Msibi’s spokesperson, Uhuru Mofokeng, said that they had to send the memorandum to provincial ANC secretary, Muzi Chirwa, via WhatsApp after he had promised to deploy a provincial executive committee member to attend to them but such a member did not show up.

Mofokeng said that they viewed the delay in passing a verdict as a ploy to cut Msibi out of deployment after the general elections this year.

“The delay is denying Msibi his rights as an official of the ANC. There are electoral processes going on in his absence at the moment. The aim of the exercise is to eliminate him from the list,” he said.

“It is unfortunate for them that he made it to the list. After that, we saw that they intensified their campaign to remove him. The disciplinary committee sat on March 21 and said they would issue their verdict in seven days, but that has not happened. There’s an intention to drag the process to isolate him.”

Mofokeng said that Msibi would continue to lobby the ANC to respond. “The verdict will guide us on the next step to take,” said Mofokeng.

Chirwa however said that he was not aware of the march. “Such conduct is anti-ANC as disciplinary processes should not be interfered with. We all respect the ANC’s constitution,” Chirwa said.

MSIBI’S DEFENCE

Msibi used a 30-seconds video-recording to defend himself. To the contrary, the recording shows Msibi speaking politely about Ramaphosa at the Pienaar gathering. Msibi tells the gathering that he and lawyer, Slungu Thobela, went to see President Ramaphosa about the Nkosi City project and he supported it.

“I cannot lie about the president,” he said. “The president called a meeting with Kgosientsho Ramokgopa (who was heading Infrastructure SA at that time). Ramokgopa even went to Pienaar afterwards,” Msibi told the crowd.  

Msibi has been having a tense relationship with the ANC’s top five in the province since his election as provincial treasurer in 2022. He was elected in absentia while he had stepped aside from party duties as he was facing murder and attempted murder charges then, which were later found to be baseless.

Previously, he had also faced multiple assault and attempted murder charges, which the courts also dismissed.

NKOSI CITY

Msibi is a brainchild behind the Nkosi City project which he conceptualised local chief Sicelo Nkosi and property developer Philip Kleijnhans 15 years. He was a ward councillor in the City of Mbombela at that time.

The R8 billion-plus city will be situated on a 959-hectare farm on the outskirts of the sprawling Pienaar area between the Kruger National Park and Mbombela.

There are 2 358 stands at Nkosi City. The project is expected to benefit 123 000 households and create 15 000 jobs.