Town and social development MEC Sisi Ntombela was moved into
Mlamleli’s former position in October 2016. Ntombela, who is also
considered a close ally of Magashule, succeeded the latter as premier in
2018.
Manyoni saw this as a plan devised by Zuma to move him into a far
less visible and influential political position. If indeed the case, it did
not go unnoticed by Zuma’s fellow NEC members.
When Manyoni later attended an NEC meeting in his capacity as
SALGA’s chairperson, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe asked
him why he had not become the MEC for cooperative governance. It
had been an NEC decision, after all. Manyoni said an irate Mantashe
confronted Magashule over the matter. The latter, of course, simply
defended himself by saying that Zuma wanted Manyoni in Parliament.
The former mayor’s stint as an MP in Cape Town officially started in
September 2016.^7 But it would be a temporary arrangement.
According to Manyoni, the distance between the Mother City and
Bloemfontein did not stop Magashule from making his life difficult.
At that stage, Manyoni was still the Free State ANC’s deputy
chairperson, and as such was required to attend meetings of the party’s
PEC. These were usually scheduled for Mondays to allow PEC
members who were also MPs to attend committee meetings in
Parliament, which usually took place between Tuesday and Friday. But
Magashule started to call PEC meetings on Tuesdays, Manyoni said.
This obviously put him in a bind, seeing as he was torn between his
duties as an MP and his position as a senior party leader in his home
province.
By May 2017 , Manyoni had had enough. He resigned as an MP after
just eight months in the National Assembly. To this day, he believes
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(Nora)
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