Deputy Ministers Phaahla and Gungubele vehemently deny conspiracy claims against President Ramaphosa
Deputy Minister of Health and ANC NEC member Dr Joe Phaahla has rubbished claims that he had a hand in a plot to unseat President Cyril Ramaphosa
Image: Supplied
ANC leaders Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, and Mondli Gungubele, the Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, have both refuted claims that they were behind a clandestine move to unseat President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The allegations came to the fore as rumours emerged, just days before the party's National General Council (NGC) meeting, that some "disgruntled" ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) members planned to unseat Ramaphosa.
The NGC gathering is planned for December 8 to 12.
Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele denies allegations that he was also linked to a plot to have President Cyril Ramaphosa removed from office
Image: Armand Hough/Independent Newspapers
Both ANC members delivered statements to provide clarity on Monday.
"This is precisely what our late President OR Tambo warned us about — the wedge drivers who sow suspicion, division, and mistrust within our ranks," said Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla.
A weekend newspaper report named Phaahla, an ANC National Executive Committee member, as allegedly among a group conspiring against Ramaphosa.
Allegations have surfaced that some high-ranking ANC officials were plotting to have President Cyril Ramaphosa removed from office
Image: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers
In his statement, Phaahla said: "I reject the claims that I am plotting to oust President Cyril Ramaphosa as utter rubbish and pure hogwash.
In fact, I lack the adjectives to adequately describe their absurdity." Phaahla regarded the ousting allegations as "the work of desperate individuals attempting to drive a wedge between myself, as an NEC member and lifelong activist of the African National Congress for nearly five decades, and my President."
He stated that these claims were exactly the type of behaviour that former ANC President OR Tambo previously warned about.
Phaahla described the individuals who peddled the anti-Ramaphosa narrative as having a destructive agenda aimed at undermining the unity of the ANC, dividing the NEC, and placing unwarranted doubt on his integrity among the members of the organisation to which he has devoted his entire adult life.
Phaahla said he "reject[ed] these malicious, outrageous, and fallacious accusations that are devoid of any truth with the contempt they deserve."
He said "unequivocally" that he had "consistently supported and continued to support President Ramaphosa."
My confidence in the President is rooted in the values I know him to have and the renewal agenda he continues to champion in the ANC and in government.
Phaahla stated that he always "stood firmly behind the collective decisions of our movement" and had "worked tirelessly to advance the programme of unity, stability, and transformation under his (Ramaphosa's) leadership."
He said that any suggestion to the contrary is not only false but an affront to the truth, to the movement he serves, and to the leadership collective of the ANC.
Gungubele dismissed the allegations on his X account, stating: "A suggestion that I am part of a movement to remove the current president of the ANC needs the best possible psychiatric assessment. Because it must be part of sickness to assert falsehood at all costs."
DAILY NEWS