Ntuli disputes claims of Mbalula’s role in Phala Phala vote


African National Congress (ANC) Chief Whip, Mdumiseni Ntuli, says Fikile Mbalula couldn’t have instructed caucus members not to support the panel report into the Phala Phala matter as he was not the party’s secretary general at that time.

The remarks come after the former National Assembly speaker, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, made claims that Mbalula gave an instruction to caucus before the report was debated and voted on in parliament.

Mapisa-Nqakula also agreed that the ANC may have abused its majority in the voting process. Ntuli says the vote took place before Mbalula was elected as the ANC’s secretary general.

“The vote took place in December 2022, maybe less than 10 days before the national conference of the ANC, which elected the current secretary general, comrade Fikile Mbalula. And so he was not the Secretary General at the time. I’m sure she probably might have been referring to the then-acting secretary general, comrade Paul Mashatile, the current Deputy President today,” she says.

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