‘I don’t know what I must apologise for’: Gwede Mantashe on ‘sex-for-jobs’ remarks

ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe has responded to criticism of his remarks about alleged sex-for-jobs exploitation, saying the ANC Women’s League has not directly engaged with him about what he should apologise for.

“I’m apologising, but I don’t know what I must apologise for,” Mantashe told SABC on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 2026 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Cape Town.

“My understanding was that ANC Women’s League would talk to me and I would understand exactly what it is that I should apologise for,” he reiterated.

Mantashe said the Women’s League had not told him what he should apologise for.

In his response, he did not dispute the wording of his original remarks.

Instead, he questioned which part of his remarks required an apology.

“Xhosa linguists agree with me that there is nothing wrong with what I have said that requires an apology,” Mantashe said.

This “apology” escalates a growing internal dispute over comments made during an ANC campaign visit in Bojanala, North West, when he was asked about allegations that a municipal councillor had demanded sexual favours from women in exchange for employment.

What Mantashe said

During the campaign interaction, Mantashe sought to distance the ANC from the alleged conduct, arguing that it should be treated as the conduct of an individual rather than a party matter.

In remarks widely reported and circulated on social media, he said: “Don’t involve me in issues of asking for a vagina. This person asked for his vagina from a person that he encountered. This can’t be an ANC issue.”

The comments drew immediate criticism from the ANC Women’s League, which described them as derogatory, gratuitously improper and inconsistent with the party’s stated values.

Women’s League demands action

ANCWL secretary-general Nokuthula Nqaba publicly called on Mantashe to apologise to the Newzroom Afrika journalist who asked the question and to the public.

“The ANC Women’s League apologises to the Newzroom Afrika journalist and calls on comrade Gwede Mantashe to issue a public apology to both the journalist and the public for his inappropriate remarks,” Nqaba said.

The league also asked the ANC to reprimand Mantashe and subject him to internal disciplinary processes over what it characterised as repeated insults and attacks on women.