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‘Reluctant’ Magashule set to resign as Free State premier

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Ace Magashule says that he is in the process of resigning as Free State premier. Picture: Tebogo Letsie/City Press
Ace Magashule says that he is in the process of resigning as Free State premier. Picture: Tebogo Letsie/City Press

ANC secretary general Ace Magashule has resigned himself to stepping down as Free State premier following his election to Luthuli House in December last year.

There had been widespread speculation that Magashule was reluctant to leave his post, citing precedence that former North West premier Thandi Modise simultaneously served as deputy secretary general.

Magashule told media on the sidelines of the ANC national executive committee meeting on Thursday that there was a handover process underway which would be concluded at the beginning of the new financial year in March.


Also affected is Gauteng Human Settlements MEC Paul Mashatile, now serving as the ANC’s treasurer general which is also a permanent post. The ANC in Gauteng would also have to elect a new provincial chairperson to replace Mashatile.

Magashule said the meeting, which is the first ordinary meeting of the party’s top brass since the elections in Nasrec last December, focused on induction for new members and modalities to implement the December conference resolutions.

He said the future of both ANC leaders in his Free State province and their counterparts in KwaZulu-Natal was on the agenda, as well as the Bojanala region in North West.

However, discussions on President Jacob Zuma’s future were not on the agenda, said Magashule. He said new ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa – also the country’s deputy president – was holding ongoing talks with Zuma.

The ANC meeting ends on Friday and it will be followed by the ANC lekgotla on Saturday, which sets the programme of action for government in the coming year. Next will be the Cabinet lekgotla, which forms part of the preparations for the State of the Nation Address – scheduled for February 8.

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