ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula Fikile Mbalula exposed in-fighting within the higher ranks of the ruling party when, on Tuesday, he had some words for former police minister Nathi Nhleko.
Fikile Mbalula responds to Nathi Nhleko’s ANC exit
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Following Nhleko’s resignation from the ANC, Mbalula took to social media to share his reaction to the comments the former police minister made about him.
Astonished at Nhleko’s reasons for resigning, Mbalula described the move as “a cheap way out.”
“This fellow told the whole country that a swimming pool is a fire pool, He replaced a competent police officer [Anwa] Dramat [a] crime fighter with an apartheid disastrous erratic cop called Berning Ntlemeza whom i showed the door immediately when i took over as pollice minister. Wait till i tell you what he advised me to do at a handover meeting,” Mbalula exclaimed.
Why did Nathi Nhleko resign from the ANC?
In his resignation letter, Nhleko expressed his disillusionment with the party’s current trajectory, citing a departure from the values and principles that initially defined the ANC.
“In the past few years, I have observed that I no longer recognise this ANC that I joined, the ANC whose only aspiration was to liberate our people. The ANC as a liberation movement spoke and acted strongly on good ethics; a collective approach; was people focused; and emphasised on humanity and freedom for all,” Nhleko wrote in a letter addressed to Albertina Sisulu Branch secretary Tolo Fakazi.
In particular, Nhleko referenced Mbalula’s earlier comments about the Nkandla swimming pool saga, where he admitted the ruling party lied repeatedly to protect former president Jacob Zuma’s exorbitant and fruitless expenditure at his infamous homestead in 2014, as a demonstration of “the bankruptcy, lunacy, and the defunct manner of thinking by the Secretary-General, which has unfortunately defined the barren form the ANC has undertaken”.
To this day, Nhleko has maintained that the designation of the swimming pool as a security feature was based on factual justification. Despite criticism and contradictions from within the ANC, the former police minister insists on the validity of his report.
Earlier this year, Nhleko stressed that his findings were supported by thorough investigation and expert analysis in various fields, suggesting that any claims to the contrary lack a factual basis.
Nhleko’s stance is that without concrete evidence refuting his report’s conclusions, the criticisms hold no weight.