The Mpumalanga ANC has suspended the membership of provincial treasurer Mandla Msibi for three years.

The ANC has also expelled Sibusiso Bhuda Mdhluli from the organisation, effective immediately.

The party’s provincial secretary Muzi Chirwa and spokesperson Sasekani Manzini made these announcements during a media briefing at the ANC’s provincial headquarters in Mbombela today.

Msibi, one of the provincial ANC’s heavyweights and the MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs, was suspended shortly after the party charged him on allegations relating to inciting the residents of Pienaar to march against President Cyril Ramaphosa during the ANC’s January 8 celebrations.

He is accused of addressing a community gathering in Pienaar, demanding that Ramaphosa should address them about the delays in the construction of the Nkosi Smart City.

However, in a video doing the rounds on social media, Msibi could be seen and heard speaking well of Ramaphosa.

Addressing the media, Chirwa said it was not an easy decision, but it had to be made.

“The Provincial Executive Committee has received a report following [the] decision of the Provincial Working Committee from the Provincial Disciplinary Committee, which pertains to the three comrades in question. Having looked at all the issues and deliberated on the matters at hand, [it] arrived at a sanction wherein it resolved as a verdict that the membership of Cde Msibi is suspended for three years, of which two years have been suspended on condition that he is not found guilty of similar offences during the period of suspension,” said Chirwa.

“On August 18, the Provincial Working Committee of the ANC in Mpumalanga took a decision to summarily suspend three members of the organisation, which was done in terms of Rule 26 and 56, read along with Rule 25, 60.

“From the onset, we want to place it on record that the decision that we are communicating here today, as reported by the Provincial Working Committee, was not arrived at easily, but was necessary and consistent with our programme of organisational renewal, which encapsulates the discipline of the organisation, as well as its most important pillar in marching forward.

“In almost all our documents as the ANC, the emphasis is on the discipline of all our members, as well as leaders of the ANC. The ANC expects all its members and leaders to be disciplined at all material times,” said Chirwa.

He also announced that Mdhluli has been expelled from the organisation, while Mandla Mhlanga was cleared of all the charges brought against him.