Ramaphosa, Sisulu still at odds

THE back and forth battle between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Cabinet Minister Lindiwe Sisulu continued yesterday.

The gloves came off this week after the Presidency issued a statement that Ramaphosa had “admonished the minister” about her attack on the judiciary and suggested that Sisulu had retracted her “unsubstantiated, hurtful comments”.

Sisulu quickly denied the statement issued after a meeting on Wednesday night.

“Under no circumstances did I commit to any retraction or apology since I stand by what I penned.”

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele issued a second statement, saying the Presidency stood by its statement, and had nothing further to add.

But yesterday Sisulu claimed they misrepresented her meeting with Ramaphosa.

She said she respected the Office of the Presidency and the president but was “troubled” by the media team’s “deliberately mischievous” actions.

She said the president took issue with her expression relating to the judiciary and he proposed that a third person or intermediary “assist” the particular and solitary line he found an “offensive expression”.

“We had a mature and sensible meeting and thus concluded on good terms. In fact, (on) Thursday, the president called me and read the specific sentence as redesigned that he had found offensive. We ended our discussion on an amicable basis,” Sisulu said.

Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said the tit-for-tat between the two senior members of the ANC was indicative of a party that had lost touch with its people.