Becoming secretary-general therefore offered Magashule a chance to
secure one of the party’s most powerful positions and, more
importantly, to avoid being swept into political oblivion by the brooms
of change Ramaphosa threatened to wield. With such high stakes, it is
no wonder the political machinery that propped up Magashule’s rule in
the Free State kicked into overdrive in the months before Nasrec. The
intense campaign was accompanied by the same sort of mischief that
came under fire in the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2012. This latest
wave of unscrupulous political manoeuvring would also eventually be
subjected to a legal lashing.
The earliest and most prominent objection to Magashule’s bid for
secretary-general came from fellow Free State local Fikile Mbalula.
After the ANC Youth League and the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military
Veterans Association (MKMVA) announced their support for
Magashule in mid- 2017 , Mbalula posted his tweet that Magashule was
‘a definite no no no’ and that he would ‘finish what is remaining of our
movement. He will kill it.’^3 Magashule retaliated at a Provincial
General Council meeting in Bloemfontein,^4 but his squabbles with
national party figures like Mbalula were of secondary concern. It was
in his home province that Magashule needed to lay the foundation for
his ascent to the party’s Top Six. But his path was strewn with
obstacles. In fact, as Nasrec drew closer, it appeared at times as if the
wheels were coming off.
In November, a group of disgruntled ANC members sought to stop the
very processes that would see Magashule nominated by the Free State
for his preferred position. The dissatisfied party members took
Magashule, in his capacity as provincial chair, and his PEC to court.^5
The ANC in the Free State was due to hold a provincial conference on
nora
(Nora)
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