South Africa’s Magashule Drags ANC To Court

A top official in South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has taken the party to court to challenge his suspension pending charges of fraud and corruption against him.

Ace Magashule is the secretary-general of the ANC and a fierce political rival of party leader and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and the move has heightening tensions within the fractured organization once led by Nelson Mandela.

Magashule’s decision to go to court is viewed as a direct challenge to Ramaphosa’s drive to rid the ANC of the corruption that has damaged its image over the past decade.

National broadcaster SABC reported Friday that Magashule’s lawyers had filed the papers at the Gauteng High Court on Thursday.

In court papers, Magashule has questioned the legality of the party rule, pushed by Ramaphosa, which forces ANC officials facing criminal charges to ‘step aside’ from their positions until their cases are finalized.

Magashule has said the rule undermines the constitutional principle of a person being innocent until proven guilty.

ANC officials have been implicated in series of corruption scandals over the last decade, most notably under the rule of former party leader and former South African president Jacob Zuma, whose own corruption trial is due to start next week.

Some ANC leaders have already resigned from their positions under the ‘step aside’ rule and others may be suspended in the coming weeks if they do not stand down.