The executive mayor of Ekurhuleni’s Twitter account has been deactivated following a tweet on Sunday in which he supported the views of EFF leader Julius Malema.
Malema made the call to “let the white economy collapse” last week as he called on South Africans to defy the eased lockdown.
In a statement on Monday evening, ANC national spokesperson Pule Mabe said executive mayor Mwandile Masina’s post fell outside the confines of the party’s policy position.
“While the views were expressed on a personal account, it stands to confuse our constituency and members as to what the ANC stands for. It is expected of ANC leaders to act with care and be cautious at all times on matters of policy,” said Mabe.
I fully agree with my friend on this one @Julius_S_Malema. Until we nationalise all commanding heights of the economy- we need to restart this economy and make sure it favors the majority. Things can’t be sane again pic.twitter.com/NNULKJX6zV
— Mzwandile Masina (@mzwandileMasina) May 31, 2020
Masina, who is also the regional chairperson of the ANC in Ekurhuleni, tweeted a newspaper article headlined “Let the white economy collapse, says Malema” on Sunday morning, adding to it: “I fully agree with my friend on this one @Julius_S_Malema. Until we nationalise all commanding heights of the economy – we need to restart this economy and make sure it favours the majority. This can’t be sane again.”
The DA in Ekurhuleni has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to take action against Masina and called for his removal for breaking his oath of office, said Ald Phillip de Lange, the DA leader in Ekurhuleni.
“Masina, as the mayor of Ekurhuleni, must serve all the City’s residents and not a select few. He is supposed to create unity and peace as set out in our Constitution. However, he continues to sow division in the country based on racial lines and undermine the president’s vision of one united South Africa standing together as one family,” said De Lange in a statement issued on Monday.
According to Mabe, leaders of the ANC feed into the narrative of policy uncertainty when they publicly canvas positions outside the formal structures.
“We therefore encourage members of the ANC to exercise their freedom of speech within the confines of ANC structures,” he added.
He said the party appealed to its members and leadership to be cautious about what gets communicated on social media – and that the ANC had guided members to limit public pronouncements to approved policies.
Shortly after the ANC published its statement, Masina took to Twitter to state he was ready to stand down for his radical views. He went as far as daring the ANC to remove him as its mayor for his views on nationalisation. “I fear nothing if I’m isolated for radical views,” he said.
He called on the DA to “take me”.
To those who missed it... pic.twitter.com/YSCptNWgmy
— Sanele_ (@Sydwell75394556) June 1, 2020
De Lange said: “Throughout Masina’s tenure as mayor, he has opposed the president, this is well documented. These issues began when he stated he would resign if Cyril Ramaphosa becomes president of the ANC.
“Last year, Masina came out in defence of the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, and slammed the president, claiming she was under attack from everyone,” said de Lange.
He said Masina also clashed with finance minister Tito Mboweni over the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank. In addition, he also criticised the president last year over his appointment of Pravin Gordhan to his cabinet, stating that it “undermines the rule of law and makes a mockery of our democracy”.
De Lange said the DA would write to Ramaphosa, requesting that he takes action against Masina.
“We will also write to the Gauteng Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC, Lebogang Maile, demanding a full investigation into the divisiveness of Masina’s utterances.
“We will further approach the South African Human Rights Commission as we believe these comments violate the rights of a sector in our community based upon their race, which is against our Constitution.”
Mayoral spokesperson Phakamile Mbengashe said the mayoral office would not comment at this stage and would later engage with the media.
