Former President Thabo Mbeki. Picture: Gallo Image/Denvor de Wee
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation has confirmed that the former president was snubbed from speaking at former finance minister Tito Mboweni’s funeral.
Mboweni was buried in a special provincial funeral in Limpopo on Saturday.
The late former finance minister and Reserve Bank Governor died earlier this month at the age of 65.
According to the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, Mboweni’s family approached the former president with a special request.
They asked that he prepare and deliver a tribute at the funeral as per Mboweni’s final wish.
“The Mboweni family shared a draft funeral programme with President Mbeki, which included a list of proposed speakers. Among them was President Mbeki, who was invited to speak as a leader, mentor, and friend,” the foundation said.
The foundation said Mbeki accepted the family’s request and prepared a tribute to Mboweni.
“On receipt of the final draft of the special official service programme on the eve of the funeral, it was noted that all the names proposed by the family were included, except for President Mbeki’s.
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“Despite no explanation being provided for this unexpected omission, President Mbeki accepted the change without raising any questions and acknowledged that he would not be speaking at the service,” the foundation said.
The foundation said when Mbeki arrived at Mboweni’s funeral, members of the Mboweni family approached the former president to apologise for the omission of his name from the programme.
“They offered to adjust the programme to include him, but President Mbeki advised against it, stating that the programme was likely designed with a reason and that it should be respected.
“The family members profusely apologised again, and President Mbeki graciously accepted, assuring them that no further stress should be placed on the family during such a difficult time,” the foundation said.
The foundation added Mbeki agreed to share the prepared tribute to Mboweni at the request of the family.
President Mbeki’s tribute would have echoed the words of Dr Ngoako Ramathodi, who remarked: “Tito died a very unhappy comrade, as we often spent time discussing the challenges facing the movement and our country, particularly the current phase of the national democratic revolution,” the foundation said.
Mbeki’s tribute to Mboweni chronicled the apartheid years, the massacres against the liberation movement to which they belong and Mboweni’s service to South Africa.
Mbeki revealed that together with Mboweni, they had agreed “it was absolutely imperative that our nation as a whole should engage in a truly inducive and first national dialogue to answer the question how do we pull our country out of its crisis.”
Mbeki said “crisis” included high levels of unemployment and poverty affecting large numbers of people and persisting wealth and income inequality.
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