Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Former UK prime minister Tony Blair today spoke about Africa in general, fielding questions on South Africa specifically regarding President Cyril Ramaphosa and EFF leader Julius Malema at the Financial Times Africa Summit held in London.
Other speakers at the summit included Ghanaian president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, president of the Republic of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba and Nigerian business magnate Aliko Dangote, as well as our own minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan and Investec’s founding CEO Hendrik du Toit.
Asked about our current president, Blair said Ramaphosa’s “challenge is the misalignment between expectations and what he can deliver.”
Then, Financial Times editor Lionel Barker asked how much by way of political concessions Ramaphosa will have to “give” to EFF leader Julius Malema and his party, Blair briefly addressed Malema, who he called a populist, before moving on to speaking about Ethiopian president Abiy Ahmed.
Reactions to Blair’s words differed sharply. While one user said she was “absolutely amazed by his depth knowledge of the continent,” another user highlighted the former prime minister’s controversial human rights record, particularly regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Recently, Blair was involved in fresh controversy over allegations that he took money from regimes accused of human rights abuses, including an alleged $12 million from the Saudi kingdom and an alleged $8 million from Kazakhstan’s dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev, which included alleged PR to cover a massacre committed by the Kazakh government.
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