The statement tied into a broader public spat over Magashule’s
relationship with Madikizela-Mandela and his provincial government’s
apparent disregard for her legacy. At one of the struggle icon’s
memorial services, former finance minister Trevor Manuel lambasted
Magashule because the Free State government had failed to restore a
house in the town of Brandfort where Madikizela-Mandela had lived
under banning orders during the 1980 s. There were also indications
that millions of rands earmarked for the restoration had gone missing,
an issue that had deeply upset Manuel.^6
Magashule was not going to take this beating on the chin. He was
quick to accuse Manuel of sowing disunity in the ruling party, and
careful to sidestep the issue of the Brandfort house and the missing
money. ‘When you talk about unity of the movement, don’t use
memorial services of revolutionaries to attack other leaders,’ Magashule
fired back. ‘When you don’t attack other leaders, you are not a coward.
You are a disciplined member of the movement ... Inside internal
meetings of the ANC, we talk. We can criticize you but, when I attack
and criticize another leader, I am weakening the movement and this is
the culture we must understand – we must nurture it.’^7 Curiously,
Magashule chose to ignore Bloem’s comments about his struggle
history.
Bloem later told me that he had been in regular contact with Caleb
Motshabi, an MK operative who established and oversaw the primary
network through which the Free State’s underground recruits were
transported from Thaba ’Nchu, near Bloemfontein, to Lesotho.
According to Bloem, Motshabi never mentioned that Magashule was in
any way involved in the process. ‘After I exposed Ace, many ANC
comrades contacted me and told me someone needed to say this, this
nora
(Nora)
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