Why has Ekurhuleni mayor backed off on threat to quit if Ramaphosa won? Fork knows...

Johannesburg – Ekurhuleni Mayor Mzwandile Masina has seemingly backtracked from a comment he made in October, where he said he would resign should Cyril Ramaphosa be elected as the new ANC president.

In October, Masina told News24: "I will never serve under Cyril." But on Wednesday morning, he seemingly changed his mind, and said he was "going nowhere".

This is not the first time the controversial mayor has "forked off" from hot-headed statements only to change his stance later on.

In December 2013, while he was the national convenor of the ANC Youth League, Masina was quoted as saying that National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa general secretary Irvin Jim must "f*** off".

Masina later came out saying that he had been misquoted, and that he had said "fork off".

The following year, in April, Masina again "forked off" from an initial comment he made on Instagram, after posting a picture of former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils and former deputy health minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge.

The caption read: "The ANC gave these two people an opportunity to be known. They mess up. One hoe fired by Pres Mbeki and the other resign in protest after Pres a Mbeki was recalled. Now they miss television do much that they convening some lousy media conference to discourage pple from voting our movement. Pple died for freedom don’t be fooled by these two loosens [sic]."

Masina later apologised and said he didn’t mean to offend anyone, and had meant to say "who" instead of "hoe".

'I can never serve under Cyril'

The DA has also claimed that, in May 2015, Masina was seen mouthing the words "I will f*** you up" to DA MP Geordin Hill-Lewis in Parliament.

The then-chairperson, Thoko Didiza, claimed to not have seen or heard anything, and pledged to investigate.

And now it again seems that the Mayor of Ekurhuleni has backtracked, tweeting this morning that he was going nowhere.

In October, Masina was adamant that he would resign should Ramaphosa be elected as president of the party.

''I will leave. I can never serve under Cyril. I respect him as my older brother, as a leader. [But] I just don’t believe in this group he belongs to. So, he can lead. I will be out,'' he said.

Masina said he would also step down as mayor and regional chair if the majority of branches in his region nominated Ramaphosa, instead of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

''It means I am not a leader. I can’t lead people who don’t listen to me. It’s politics."

''This is not just a presidential race, it’s politics,'' he said. Masina had not responded to phone calls or messages from News24. News24

Update:

'I'm very happy with the outcome. I will work with Ramaphosa' - Masina

Johannesburg - Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina says he will work with new ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa after he won the race to be the party's new leader.

Masina made headlines in October when he declared he would resign if Ramaphosa won the ANC’s December election.

"I will leave. I can never serve under Cyril. I respect him as my older brother, as a leader. [But] I just don’t believe in this group he belongs to. So, he can lead. I will be out," he said.

But Masina now has a softer stance compared to his initial declaration, after Ramaphosa was elected the party's 14th leader in Nasrec on Sunday over Masina's preferred candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

"I am very happy with the outcome. I've worked very closely with [ANC] president Ramaphosa and I will continue to work with him," Masina told News24 in Nasrec on Wednesday.

He said his comments had been taken out of context, adding that he was responding to a question while under pressure from Ramaphosa supporters to call for a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

"I unfortunately responded that, if that is the case, I am prepared to make their job easier by resigning and remain an ordinary member of the ANC and a councillor."

Masina also said that the reason he had chosen to support Dlamini-Zuma was because of her stance on radical economic transformation, as affirmed by the party's policy conference in June.

"The only person who was articulating the outcome of the policy conference was Dlamini-Zuma.

"But I believe comrade Cyril Ramaphosa, as a disciplined leader, of the ANC will be able to implement those policies of the African National Congress as resolved by conference."

He would not be drawn on his initial statement in which he threatened to resign, saying he had put that matter to bed in a statement on November 1.

In his statement, he had said his comments were taken out of context, as he was responding to a question on pressure from Ramaphosa supporters to call for a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

"I unfortunately responded that, if that is the case, I am prepared to make their job easier by resigning and remain an ordinary member of the ANC and a Councillor."

Masina meanwhile said the party should resist moves to take the outcomes of its top 6 vote to court.

"We are calling upon all delegates to accept the outcome as announced and desist from using the courts [to] deal with internal democratic processes of the African National Congress." - News24