"Change Starts Now leader Roger Jardine did not recruit me. But he consulted me in the lead-up to the party's formation."

Former African National Congress (ANC) Veterans League deputy president and ANC member Mavuso Msimang has set the record straight, saying Jardine only contacted him to pick his brains on forming a new political movement.

Mavuso said conversations between the pair concerned the former businessman throwing his hat in the ring and contesting the elections in 2024. Jardine launched his political party, Change Starts Now, in Riverlea, Johannesburg, on Sunday. 

Jardine told a crowd at the launch that he had sought counsel from Mavuso and hoped he would one day join Change Starts Now. 

"Jardine sought advice. This thing started a while back, even two months [ago], and he said he was thinking of leaving the corporate sector and wanted to throw his hat in the ring and get more involved in politics.

"These were conversations, and my response to him was: 'Sjoe, you're coming in very late,'" Msimang said. 

He said he referred to Rise Mzansi, which entered the fray more than 18 months ago and had yet to reach 2% during polling. 

"I told him we are so close to the elections, chances would be very difficult that he would be able to make an impact," Msimang said. 

He criticised recent accusations by his former party's secretary-general Fikile Mbalula that Jardine was bribing ANC veterans. 

He called Mbalula out for leaking his resignation letter and told News24 that he had sent the letter to Mbalula, and copied Mbalula's personal assistant (PA). 

Msimang said: 

It irks me that a person at his level of responsibility should just tell a gratuitous lie, a completely unnecessary lie. It can only be created to harm somebody's character. I sent my email to him and his PA.

He said a forensic audit would reveal this. 

"But Mbalula says he just got it in the media that I had resigned. I did not go to the media. Within two hours of sending my email to Mbalula, it had already circulated on WhatsApp.

"I was so embarrassed when people were asking me to confirm. It's ridiculous. I would have wanted us to discuss this," Msimang said. 

He added that the leak had thrown a spanner in the works for any possibility of returning to the party. 

Msimang said:

I thought there would be a discussion with the organisation through Mbalula. Those points I raised would be discussed, disputed and possibly even remedied, and if I felt they didn't, I would feel free to tell the world that I have resigned, and I would have published this as an article because my image is important to me.

This comes amid reports that Msimang was in talks with his now former party about possibly coming back to the ANC. 

In response to Mbalula's utterances about alleged bribes, the stalwart said this was "nonsense".

Mbalula, who was speaking at a rally on Sunday, said he had heard about the "overnight sensation" that was Jardine, accusing him of bribing veterans, including Msimang.  

He said: "They [Change Starts Now] are on a mission of bribing ANC veterans; the names Mavuso Msimang and Murphy Morobe have been dropped. We don't know if it's true, but we know that Msimang has left.

"We are hearing that these people are being given a lot of money because this thing of theirs that they have started, for it to have credence, it must have people with struggle credentials, so that is what they do.

"They are forming a lot of political parties to defeat the ANC. They have put a lot of money to support this project. Roger Jardine is a project. We know that and that project will be defeated."

Change Starts Now elections director Morobe also called Mbalula's comments "absolute nonsense".

He said: 

This is [indicative] of a secretary-general who is out of his depth in terms of the main function of his responsibility as a secretary-general of what he would refer to as a leader of society. It's completely unacceptable. We only want to spend a little bit of time responding to him. The politics of life will attend to him.

ANC Veterans League spokesperson Snuki Zikalala said talks to persuade Msimang to come back to the ANC were ongoing but were delicate. 

He said true ANC veterans would not be easily swayed to jump ship. 

"There are people who could be swayed [to leave the party and join Jardine], but those who are real ANC people cannot be swayed. 

"People who joined the ANC with the conviction that they want to transform society, improve the lives of the poor, they want to make sure that we get rid of corruption. Our only problem is the pace of implementing our policies, and ANC veterans committed to that will never be swayed. 

"We can't just jump ship and say another party will be able to solve society's problems without the ANC; it cannot happen. No convicted and committed members of the ANC will jump ship. They will never jump ship," Zikalala said.