Deputy President Paul Mashatile has said his life was under threat in the build-up to last year’s ANC elective conference, doubling down on allegations he made last week that there are people who do not want him in the Union Buildings.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian this week, Mashatile said he had to be vigilant in his movements.
“Let me say, last year there was a situation where I received reports that there were some people who wanted to attack us at home but I couldn’t prove it myself except a video going around saying I missed bullets, so I have to continue to be vigilant in whatever I do.”
His claims come after he told the City Press that there was a plot to oust him. Mashatile is reported to have said that there was an August deadline to remove him from the Union Buildings.
Mashatile was elected as the ANC deputy president last year, making him one of the most powerful men in the party and first in line to succeed President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Recent reports of Mashatile’s associates have dominated media headlines after News24 reported that Mashatile was living a lavish lifestyle in multimillion-rand homes owned by his benefactors — including corruption-accused Edwin Sodi, who received millions in government contracts — where he was entertaining a string of lovers and friends.
Mashatile said that this was an attack on his values and integrity.
“It’s an ethical thing to say people around me are not right. So, if you ask me what my approach is, I’m focusing on my work. This thing, there are ways to clear them. Parliament has processes, cabinet has processes,” he said.
He added that he was willing to subject himself to lifestyle audits to clear his name.
“So let them audit and check if I live a life of opulence. We have to declare our interest in the government. The president gave me forms after he appointed me to say where do I live, what do I own. I’ve done that. If there is a problem the state and parliament will find out.”
Mashatile said he spoke to Ramaphosa on Monday and that the president had assured him that he had checked and was convinced that there was no plot.
Explaining why he had made these allegations, he said that he had “reacted on the basis that what I see, what came to me”.
“Some people argue that these days because of artificial intelligence and all sorts of things, people use other people because remember some people say my phone was cloned. I decided to live it. The president said to me, ‘Look, I’ve checked.’”
During a sitdown with journalists on Sunday, Ramaphosa said he was the only person who could hire and fire Mashatile.
“There is just no thought, no plan, no inkling whatsoever that something like that could be in the works,” the president said.
Mashatile was considered a threat by his detractors in the ANC in the months leading up to its elective conference. Ramaphosa’s allies insisted on finding an alternative opponent for the deputy president position despite provinces selecting Mashatile as their preferred choice.
This led to a split among those campaigning for Ramaphosa, with some lobbying for Ronald Lamola to deputise Ramaphosa while others preferred Oscar Mabuyane.
After his election in December, Ramaphosa’s allies were said to have attempted to dissuade him from appointing Mashatile.
At the time, the M&G reported that there was also talk among insiders in Ramaphosa’s camp that Mashatile should be moved to a “critical portfolio” in cabinet outside of the Union Buildings to stop him from “interfering”.
The delay in his appointment as deputy president heightened tensions between Mashatile and Ramaphosa’s supporters.
After weeks of delay, then deputy president David Mabuza forced Ramaphosa’s hand by saying he was ready to hand over to Mashatile.
Ramaphosa’s allies are also concerned that should the party lose its majority in next year’s elections, it will be forced into a relationship with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) beyond municipal level.
Mashatile’s allies have been working with the EFF in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and in eThekwini and other KwaZulu-Natal municipalities, and are already considering extending that relationship to the national and provincial level should they need to after the coming elections.
The EFF has also made known its willingness to work with Mashatile, rather than Ramaphosa, whom it wants removed from the presidency.
The Ramaphosa camp, including ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe and the party’s secretary general, Fikile Mbalula, are known to be opposed to a national and provincial coalition agreement with the EFF, which they know will come at a price to the party — and Ramaphosa.
One ANC insider said Mashatile’s discussions with the business community had rattled cages in Ramaphosa’s office.
This week, Mashatile told the M&G that there were people who did not like his relationship with Ramaphosa and he denied that there were tensions between him and the president.
“Me and him are in the same faction, so to speak, the same side. We have fought on the same side since he came in 2017. I was not in what you call CR17 but I was in a team of people who supported him even when Mabuza was there. Me and him and Mabuza worked together,” he said.
“When Mabuza left, I came in to work with him. He has now appointed me in government so we are together. There is no problem between me and the president but there may be people who don’t like it.
“I don’t know where they are, I can’t say they are around him per se but there may be people who think this guy shouldn’t be there with the president, but me and the president, we are fine.”
Mashatile’s recent meetings with the business community have been perceived as a sign that he is gearing up to take over from Ramaphosa. Bloomberg recently reported that Ramaphosa was losing the confidence of key constituencies, including the business community whose stamp of approval helped in his elevation as head of state.
Mashatile said he considered these meetings a success, telling the M&G that in their last meeting at the JSE, 96 business leaders attended.
“We are creating an opportunity where we say to business, come and work with us on renewable energy, on all this, let’s get things done. I’m happy that business is now beginning to have confidence that things are going to move for the better. “
“We just met the BBC [Black Business Council]. Black business feels the BBBEE [broad-based black economic empowerment] strategy has been not reversed but sort of pushed back a bit or parked.”
On Wednesday, News24 reported that Mashatile is living in a R37 million home bought by his son-in-law, Nceba Nonkwelo, who has received funding from Gauteng government entities, and his son, Thabiso.
Artmotion S.Africa
