FAKE MAGASHULE FLYER OUTRAGE

The controversial flyer has raised the ire of the ANC and dismissed as a desperate attempt by Regime Change leaders to besmirch the name of provincial chairperson, Ace Magashule

The ANC in the Free State has launched a scathing attack on the continuing smear campaign against provincial chairman, Premier Ace Magashule, following the distribution of a scurrilous flyer, on Wednesday, which seeks to impugn his character and discredit him in the eyes of ruling party members.

Senior ANC leaders told The Weekly the provocative flyer, which seeks to portray Magashule as a despotic and megalomaniac oligarch, was manufactured and distributed by desperate Regime Change leaders are not happy about Magashule’s meteoric rise within the ANC leadership structures. The fake pamphlet comes in a week where Magashule’s name is being mooted by some provinces for the powerful position of national chairperson currently occupied by Baleka Mbete.

The Weekly can reveal that the flyer, which bears Magashule’ face is the work of Regime Change leaders, working in cahoots with some senior ANC national leaders, who are frustrated about their failure to unseat Magashule at the elective provincial conference in June. Magashule was elected unopposed fending off the aborted challenge by provincial Regime Change leader, Mxolisi Dukwana, who failed to pitch at the conference.

The same Regime Change leaders are spearheading the current court challenge to demand the dissolution of the legitimate and duly elected provincial executive committee led by Magashule.
This bitter wrangle for power by the renegade group has culminated in the distribution of the unscrupulous flyers that depict Magashule firing all sorts of salvo and pouring political vitriol against his adversaries and the general membership.

Written in Sesotho, the morally repugnant leaflets purporting to have been issued by Magashule were dumped at strategic highly populated areas in Bloemfontein such as the taxi rank and the popular Hoffman Square in Charlotte Maxeke Street and contain a barrage of unprintable words.

In the pamphlet, Magashule is characterised as a pompous and arrogant leader who does not care about the views of ordinary ANC members and is hell-bent on destroying the political careers of his political opponents. He is also caricatured as a corrupt leader who is wealthy and determined to continue enriching himself.

“ANC members will not be swayed by this opportunistic and desperate move by Regime Change. They know that Comrade Ace is a principled leader of the ANC. He is a unifier who has been working tirelessly to unite the ANC in the past few months. He is a good listener who is in touch with the masses, hence his popularity. This is the last kicks of the dying horse for Regime Change. They will never stop the chairperson. He is the people’s leader,” said a senior ANC leader.

Coincidentally, this came on the eve of yesterday’s Bloemfontein High Court hearing of the application of a handful ANC members seeking nullification of the party’s provincial elective conference held in June.

The ANC has condemned this malicious pamphlet, which it describes as part of a “propaganda war” against Magashule.
“The ANC wishes to distance itself and comrade Ace Magashule from such a pamphlet. It is harrowing to read the amount of insults carried by that pamphlet, but it reveals the mind-set of its authors. They do not respect and understand the problems that our communities face.”

“We, therefore, wish to request the communities to be aware about such a type of communication whose intentions are to set the people against the ANC leadership. We need to work tirelessly to bring the culprits to book,” said ANC provincial spokesperson, Oupa Khoabane.

The Premier’s office has also expressed disgust against this “mischievous act” and said this is just a distraction of people from Magashule’s good deeds.
“However, it is easy for anyone to notice that it is not an official flyer as it does not even have a government logo. The flyer appears to be part of a propaganda war being waged politically against Premier Magashule.”

“Premier Magashule is committed to serving the people of the province. He will not be distracted from his important duties by faceless individuals hell-bent on defocusing him,” said the premier’s spokesperson, Wisani Ngobeni.

Ngobeni said communication channels to the communities such as ‘Operation Hlasela’ have proved to be a success.
“It enables the premier to interact with people, but not through flyers. Operation Hlasela will remain the defining feature of the Magashule administration because it knows where people live, understands their needs and responds faster.”

This attempt at attacking Magashule’s credibility follows the South African Civic Organisation’s earlier suspension of service delivery protests, to “avoid a situation where people are used against the ANC leadership by political opportunists.”

It has since been established that ‘Regime Change’ used the service delivery protest as a platform to discredit the provincial leadership.
“We are calling on law enforcement agencies to swiftly act against the originator of the flyer,” said Ngobeni.