Mbeki must account to Luthuli House, says Masetlha

Former National Intelligence Agency boss Billy Masetlha, newly elected to the African National Congress (ANC) national executive committee (NEC), says President Thabo Mbeki and his Cabinet will be “recalled” from their government positions unless they “account” to Luthuli House, Business Day reported on Friday.

According to the report, Masetlha said this would happen because ANC leaders were deployed to government posts and were not elected directly to public office.

Masetlha told a gathering of the veterans’ association of the ANC’s disbanded military wing, Umkhonto weSizwe, on Thursday that the next couple of months were going to be “very difficult” if the government merely paid lip service to ANC resolutions taken at its watershed 52nd conference, which resulted in Mbeki being forced out and Jacob Zuma being elected as its new president, the daily reported.

Masetlha, who was fired by Mbeki, also warned that Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and his deputy, Mluleki George, could face “disciplinary action” for their conduct leading up to and during the ANC conference in Limpopo last week.

According to the report, the two diehard Mbeki loyalists went public over their opposition to Zuma. Lekota berated Zuma supporters, saying that they were not “thinking properly” and were hooligans for wearing ANC T-shirts emblazoned with Zuma’s picture. George held a rally on the sidelines of the ANC’s conference, and referred to Zuma supporters as “howlers” who had to be stopped lest they hijacked the “revolution”.

Masetlha said that while the ANC had to “heal” itself, certain “tough questions” had to be asked. “We were elected to be of service to the people. Accountability starts now,” he said.

“With due respect to the Cabinet, they are going to have to account, and if they defy conference resolutions, they must be recalled.”—Sapa