JOHANNESBURG – THE Secretary General of the ruling South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) Ace Magashule was granted R200 000 bail on Friday, in a graft case that has highlighted divisions within a party whose dominance has been unchallenged since the 1994 end of white-minority rule.

Magashule and one of the top six most powerful officials of the ANC, faces allegations related to a contract to audit houses with asbestos roofs awarded while he was premier of the Free State province.

He was not asked to plead in his first court appearance on Friday, where he faced 21 charges of corruption and fraud, but has previously denied any wrongdoing.

The charges have put him on a collision course with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has pledged to clean up the ANC’s image with a tough stance on corruption, but whose detractors accuse him of using it to sideline his opponents.

Magistrate Amos Moos at the Bloemfontein Magistrate Court ordered Magashule to appear before the court on February 19.

“We expect to add three more accused on the charge-sheet,” the National Prosecuting Authority said in a statement.

Outside the court, thousands of supporters denounced the trial as a witch hunt, chanting, dancing and waving banners reading “Hands off Comrade Magashule“, footage from national TV channels showed.

After appearing, Magashule, who had handed himself in to police earlier in the day, stepped outside to address the crowd. “I will only step aside if I am asked by the branches who voted me,” he said, to loud applause.

Some protesters tried to tear down a barbed wire cordon around the court while others burned yellow ANC T-shirts bearing Ramaphosa’s face, calling on him to step down.

“If you arrest Ace Magashule, you arrest the whole ANC!” one demonstrator shouted.