Wally Mbhele
Before his arrest in Mozambique eight months ago, foreign affairs official Robert McBride was approached by Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga’s representative to take over from former MEC for safety and security Jessie Duarte.
McBride is understood to have turned the offer down, citing his commitment to his foreign affairs job. But since his release from a Mozambican jail, where he spent six months on suspicion of gun-running and espionage, McBride seems to have fallen out of political favour.
McBride’s political future now looks uncertain. There are indications that pressure from some sections of the African National Congress leadership has also resulted in McBride’s name being removed from the list of Gauteng provincial candidates for next year’s election.
The offer of the MEC position was confirmed by Motshekga’s envoy, Pat Thwala, who approached McBride at the time. Thwala is a senior ANC leader on the East Rand and a leading official of the Kyalami Metropolitan Council.
Thwala told the Mail & Guardian that McBride was considered because of his “strong and firm leadership” and his track record in community structures. “We needed someone who would command authority from the top in terms of giving directives,” said Thwala.
There had also been strong support by ANC branches for McBride to stand in next year’s general election, the M&G was told. In the Western Cape alone, it is believed his name was second on a list of candidates for the National Assembly.
Although his strong support in Gauteng was initially confirmed by provincial party officials, it was later disputed by the ANC, who claimed McBride was only nominated by one branch.
Since his release from detention, McBride has not yet been informed about the status of his position in foreign affairs, where he was deputy director of the Asian desk, neither has he been informed about his nomination for the election.
McBride was previously a member of the Gauteng legislature. From there he was seconded to the National Assembly in Cape Town. He also served as a member of the Gauteng ANC provincial executive committee.
So far, he has held meetings with Minister of Safety and Security Sydney Mufamadi, Deputy Minister of Intelligence Services Joe Nhlanhla as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfred Nzo. It is believed they agreed to stop issuing press statements denying McBride’s intelligence activities. He apparently also undertook to avoid any further press statements.
Since McBride’s release, there has been no official ANC welcome. Associates raising funds for his legal costs are understood to have been warned to desist. ANC provincial general secretary Obed Bapela was unavailable to comment on McBride’s position on the list of candidates for next year’s election.
* Meanwhile, Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa has urged the ANC to train its candidates in governance. Phosa, who is also a senior member of the ANC, said when the party took power in 1994, the organisation’s premiers, administrators and director generals found themselves in situations they had never been in before.
Phosa said the lack of financial management skills was a problem. Co-ordination between executives at national and provincial levels needed to be improved and all politicians needed to be trained on interacting with the media.
Phosa stressed that if the ANC wanted to avoid the mistakes of the past four years, the party needed to empower future legislators before they took their parliamentary seats.