President Cyril Ramaphosa briefed the media on Monday afternoon on the outcomes of the party’s NEC meeting that took place over the weekend.

“The NEC took some time discussing the violence that broke out at the branch biennial general meeting (BBGM) in Nkomazi.
The NEC noted the progress made by the task team led by Cde Zweli Mkhize to look further into these and other previous incidents of violence in the province.

READ: ANC elective conference to continue despite violence

“The NEC has also authorised its deployees to the province to refer matters of serious misconduct to the national disciplinary committee of the organisation and to ensure cooperation with the law enforcement agencies regarding criminal matters,” said Ramaphosa.

The meeting in question took place in Ward 32 of Nkomazi on Sunday April 11, when a group of men, allegedly armed with pangas, stormed the community hall where it was being held and assaulted some of the attendees. Ramaphosa said the NEC agreed that except for Nkomazi, branches should resume BBGMs and BGMs in May, so as to do away with parallel structures and branches.

Meanwhile, the former executive mayor of the Ehlanzeni District Municipality and ANC member, Jeri Ngomane, has also weighed in on the current debacles facing the organisation.

He said leaking of NEC documents contravenes the organisation’s communication protocols.

READ: Man killed in fight at ANC branch general meeting

“This can only be done by an insider whose main aim would be to hold the movement to ransom by enforcing a narrative that seeks to divert the course of the NEC collective from directing the meeting to a solution of a matter at hand. These insiders, involved in such an act,
have long lost the zeal to unite and steer the ship into calmer waters.

“Their wish is for the ship to hit an iceberg so that all may lose. This is treachery of the highest order,” Ngomane said. He was responding on the ANC statement issued by its national spokesperson, Pule Mabe, on May 9.

Mabe said the ANC was concerned about the growing tendency of leaking internal discussions of the organisation, including
the implications of such practice.

Asked why this was happening, Ngomane said, “The insiders hope this will disintegrate the movement, buying time for their own rise and an eventual takeover.

“Unfortunately, this ill-disciplined act is filtering into the branches where the movement get personalised into these factional groupings. There is no organisation without discipline or disciplinary measures.

“The narrative that some are bigger than the movement drives away scores of innocent sympathisers and voters who feel that these elements have taken over the most glorious movement Africa and the world has ever seen.”