Mbeki a ‘hypocrite who has used Ramaphosa to cleanse himself’, say analysts

Former president Thabo Mbeki does not regret his attack on President Cyril Ramaphosa amid criticisms of his leadership of both the ANC and government. However, an independent political analyst has called the former president a political charlatan.

Independent political analyst Metji Makgoba said: “Mbeki is a leadership fraudster who must be challenged. He led a neoliberal capitalist government but used the rhetoric of Pan-Africanism and anti-capitalism to style himself as the man of the people.

“He is a hypocrite who has used Ramaphosa to cleanse himself and his questionable legacy that promoted black capitalist fat cats under the pretence of patriotic capitalism.”

Mbeki and two other former presidents, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma, have each launched vicious attacks on Ramaphosa following the discovery of US currency stashed at his Phala Phala farm in the Waterberg two years ago.

The trio expressed concern about the president’s leadership in government and the worrying state of the ANC under his aegis.

Mbeki won’t budge

Mbeki met with the ANC’s Limpopo leadership – newly appointed ANC provincial secretary Reuben Madadzhe and the regional secretaries from the Norman Mashabane, Vhembe, Sekhukhune, Peter Mokaba and Waterberg regions – on Thursday at the Thabo Mbeki Foundation offices in Johannesburg this week.

The Limpopo contingent argued that, according to ANC principles, party matters should be discussed within party structures, and not in public.

They suggested the former presidents should attend ANC national leadership meetings and anything that did not sit well with them could better be discussed within such meetings.

They said the ANC may lose credibility from the electorate.

But 80-year-old Mbeki – South Africa’s second president after Nelson Mandela – told them he did not regret speaking publicly about the worrying state of the organisation and government under Ramaphosa’s leadership.

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He claimed he had discussed these issues within ANC structures before raising them in public and would continue articulating his dissatisfaction as the matters he was concerned about were unignorable.

In his speech last Saturday at the annual general meeting of the Strategic Dialogue Group, Mbeki said the ANC had to discuss a plan on what it would do if criminal investigation into the February 2020 robbery at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm found the president had a case to answer.

The Limpopo leadership argued that investigations into the Phala Phala matter should be left to law enforcement agencies and, serious as the matter may be, the police, the Special Investigating Unit and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation would deal with the matter.

ANC Limpopo provincial spokesperson Jimmy Machaka said: “Ramaphosa assured us that he loved the ANC and he will not ostensibly do anything to harm the organisation.

“He also shared his concerns about the shrinking economy that is not able to grow and create jobs. He reminded us that South Africans need clean water and better roads. South Africans need employment.”

According to Machaka, Mbeki also said if the ANC did not decisively deal with all the issues he raised, the party stood to be removed from power.

“He said South Africans continue to suffer inequality and poverty. He said … he did not intend to criticise the leadership but was trying to remind ANC leaders of the importance of the struggle the South Africans faced today,” said Machaka.

Mbeki the ‘political saint’

Makgoba said Mbeki realised no-one in the ANC could match his analytical thinking and intellectual reflexes, and took advantage of the platform last weekend to spit his bile.

“What he said about Ramaphosa and the quality of the ANC members is true. Unfortunately, his sharp remarks contribute towards delegitimising the ANC.

“[University of Johannesburg professor] Patrick Bond was right to classify him as a political con artist who has mastered the art of deception. The well of intellectual production has dried up in the ANC.

“Mbeki is a shining star because he can do the bare minimum … while the membership has serious intellectual cracks.

ALSO READ: Even Thabo Mbeki is tired of the ANC, his latest address shows just how much

“How Mbeki frames himself appears as if he is a political saint who was prevented from doing good. However, he had his chance to restructure the economy and lead more radical land ownership transformation,” Makgoba said.

“He also continued to promote neoliberalism that promoted the domination of white capital.”

– news@citizen.co.za