Teed-off ANC seeks 'malicious' shirt makers

Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza

During the incident last month, party members were forced to surrender ANC T-shirts emblazoned with an image of the premier, David Mabuza, along with the three-finger signal symbolising support for Mabuza to become ANC chairman in the province for a third term.

The shirts were later destroyed, according to sources.

At its 2012 national conference in Mangaung, the ANC took a resolution that only the face of President Jacob Zuma should be printed on party T-shirts.

ANC chairman in Nkangala Speedy Mashilo said yesterday that Mabuza had not been involved in producing the shirts and that it was Mabuza who had brought the matter to the attention of the ANC's provincial executive committee last month, at a meeting in Nelspruit. The region had then been tasked with investigating the origins of the T-shirts.

"We decided to retrieve the T-shirts because they do not represent him (Mabuza) or the ANC. Those doing that are malicious and we do not know what they want to achieve," said Mashilo.

The Nkangala region includes Witbank, Middelburg, Delmas, KwaMhlanga and Belfast. Estimates were that more than 10,000 of the T-shirts had been given to ANC members, particularly in the Witbank area.

Based on the average price of a promotional T-shirt, at R25 each, the destroyed material was likely to have cost about R260,000.

In January, ANC members supporting Mabuza assaulted members of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the province in a clash over leadership differences, drawing Luthuli House's attention to the premier.

The ANC's provincial elective conference in Mpumalanga is expected to be held this year, possibly in October, and is likely to be tightly contested.

Early this year a group of ANC members launched a campaign to Save the ANC in Mpumalanga, saying Mabuza must step down. The SACP in the province has claimed that Mabuza was the source of alliance divisions in the volatile province - which has had a high number of political assassinations since 1994.

Mabuza's spokesman, Zibonele Mncwango, said yesterday that although party members were discussing their leadership preferences on various platforms, including social media, Mabuza was not campaigning for a third term. The premier had said at the provincial general council meeting in April that if the party wanted him to serve another four-year term then "let their will be done".

Mncwango said Mabuza had "always been vocal about people claiming to do things that are wrong in his name".

Mashilo said the ANC, unlike the government, did not limit the terms of office for leaders and so there could not be talk of a "third term" for Mabuza - suggesting there was an attempt to discredit Mabuza ahead of the provincial conference.

Sub-regional meetings were held across Nkangala, with members being urged to return the Tshirts, said Mashilo.

This appeared to have been successful because members were no longer being seen wearing them.

Mashilo said the region was "still getting some leads on the source of the T-shirts". People from both inside and outside the ANC could have been involved, he said.

Disciplinary steps would be taken against party members involved, or they would be reprimanded if they proved they had not been aware of the rules.

National head of discipline in the ANC Derek Hanekom said he did not know about the case.

He said each province had its own disciplinary structures and cases were referred to the national ANC only for an appeal.