Wally Mbhele
An African National Congress statement this week conceding that detained foreign affairs official Robert McBride was framed by agents of the former government came after weeks of differences in the party about its approach to the issue.
It is understood the matter came to a head recently when a briefing document on McBride was produced at the ANC parliamentary caucus for discussion.
The document, drafted by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, emphasised that Mozambique was a sovereign state, not “a banana republic” which could be dictated to by South Africa.
Sources within the caucus say the document attempted to influence opinion and explain why South Africa could not intervene on behalf of McBride. It said no one knew why he was in Mozambique at the time of his arrest.
According to insiders, members of the caucus were angered by the document’s attack on MPs who had participated in public protests pressing for government intervention on McBride’s behalf. The document is understood to have interpreted such protests as “threats against the South African and Mozambican governments”.
However, one of the shortcomings of the document, according to sources, was its failure to acknowledge the role the “old guard” played in setting up McBride and its complete disregard of how this was linked to the discredited Meiring report.
When the issue of McBride was finally tabled at the ANC’s national executive committee last week, Minister of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi tabled a briefing which was highly critical of the role of former apartheid agents in setting him up.
After Mufamadi’s statement, the ANC issued a statement which acknowledged the sinister role played by the “old guard” in McBride’s arrest. However, it stopped short of promising ANC intervention.
These developments came just a few days before Mozambique finally announced that McBride would be charged with gun-running, espionage and association with wrongdoers.
In this week’s edition of the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) bulletin, the party said: “There is nothing which the ANC can do about the continued detention of comrade Robert McBride in Mozambique.
“Although the information that has come to light suggests that comrade Robert could have been set up, the fact remains that he was arrested in a sovereign country while on personal business.”
The ANC noted the “valuable role Robert has played and continues to play in the transition to democracy” and the obvious pain experienced by his family and comrades because of his continued imprisonment, but stated that the ANC and the government had no choice but to let the Mozambican judicial process take its course.
An NEC member told the Mail & Guardian: “We are acting responsibly. There are international agreements to which we have to adhere and are party to. We’ve got to be controlled by those agreements as next time it will be them and they’ll have to respect our sovereignty.”