On Sunday, during an interview with eNCA, he again threatened Lesufi with discipline.
“If he [Lesufi] thinks he will run a campaign against the secretary-general of the ANC, he must mind his steps because we will act. We will never tolerate rogueness in the ANC. If he has decided to run a campaign against me, defacing the secretary-general of the ANC and doing so perpetually, though we are engaging politically and have settled matters, we will have to see how to get about that.
“We will never allow anarchy because we are running an organisation and our management of the organisation is informed by the principles of democratic centralism, which dictates that when a decision is taken by the upper structures the lower structures follow in line,” Mbalula said.
Lesufi has also been at odds with DA federal council chair Helen Zille who has labelled him “rogue and the stumbling block to an ANC/DA coalition in the province.
Mashatile denied tensions exist between the two parties.
“The issues about tensions don’t exist. Helen and Panyaza, I’m sure they will resolve those issues. As far as they are concerned, we said to the government of Gauteng, led by the ANC, ‘if the DA doesn’t want to work with Gauteng, leave them behind. It’s not your problem and they must not make it our problem nationally’.
“We are working well with them nationally. It’s up to the DA to make sure they work well with our structures in the provinces. We want our structures to work with them, but our structures came to us. Gauteng came to us and said, ‘the DA is making impossible demands and therefore we can’t proceed’. And we said to them, ‘well, leave them behind if they are not reasonable – go without them’.
Lizeka Tandwa
www.sowetanlive.co.za
