Parks Mankahlana
CROSSFIRE
On Friday June 2, the Mail & Guardian published what was perhaps intended to be a review of the presidency of Thabo Mbeki. The article had nothing to do with Mbeki’s presidency but was rather a graphic display of the deep personal hatred that Howard Barrell has for Thabo Mbeki, the man.
When he speaks in Parliament next week the president will deliver the government’s evaluation of its performance and whether we are making progress in achieving the goals we set for the nation.
Yes, there is inherent tension between a government and a governing party. The discord between the ANC and the government is a scientific expression of this tension, which is often healthy. It has nothing to do with Mbeki being president.
Can Mbeki be accused of not paying attention to the ANC? Foreigners can do so because they do not stay here, and therefore do not know the workings of the ANC.
President Mbeki dedicates his weekends and the whole of Monday to party political work. He has been to all the national working committee meetings which take place on a rotational basis in the different provinces. There is often tension between Luthuli House and the Union Buildings or Tuynhuys about the distribution of his time between the two centres.
There is a raging debate about the relationship between the nation state and the global village. All this is influenced by the progress humankind is making in technological advances and globalisation. The state is indeed withering away fast. What balance should we strike between physical location of decision makers and the centres of world power and governance?
The fact that Mbeki was invited to a governance meeting in Berlin this week is an indication of this development. World powers, both in politics and economics, see the globe as their republic. They govern it. If South Africa does not make the contribution that everyone thinks we can, they will still govern and our interests and those of the developing world shall not be accommodated.
The reason South African companies are listing on the London Stock Exchange is so that they have immediate access to the financial markets of the world. They do this to derive maximum benefit for their shareholders, and also to create more capital to be able to make bigger investments in South Africa or Southern Africa. Ask Billiton about this.
Whatever happens, we must guard against the rise of national socialism disguised as a clamour for the president to pay attention to some fictitious national or domestic concern.
No houses shall be built if the government is not able to collect enough revenue for the public purse. Similarly, no schools will be built, no pensions will be paid, no hospitals will be erected and no free medical care shall be given to pregnant women and children below the age of six. We need investment to be able to collect the revenues which we shall need to create the kind of infrastructure needed in the event we decide to administer AZT and other retroviral drugs. That is, if we shall ever do so.
Investors need reassurance and mutual trust and confidence in the destination of their investments. The president is the prime salesperson of the country. This is a job he has been elected to execute. And there is nothing that will stop him from doing so.
Mbeki is no populist. The notion that he should spend time in Orange Farm or dirty his shirts at the barricades is a cynical concoction of reactionary populism and a rising national socialism aimed at destroying the ANC and demobilising the government. Is Mbeki enthusiastic about the restructuring of state assets? He would not have set two days aside at the beginning of the year to discuss the programme if he were not.
Under the headline “The train is moving”, the Business Day of June 6 observed: “Government still does not often mention the words privatisation, commercialisation, outsourcing and all the other ways of turning over to the private sector operations that were hitherto viewed as the preserve of the state. But no one should be fooled by appearances. Behind the scenes much is happening.”
The restructuring of state assets is a very complex and difficult process. It needs to be handled with care. The Post Office is living proof of this.
From PAGE29
But why do our detractors want to stampede us into taking decisions that may not be desirable? The answer is simple.
They see privatisation as a dismemberment and reduction of the authority Mbeki and other blacks have over the affairs and future of the country. In fact, there is a concerted campaign to make the South African economy a white republic in which the blacks shall guard the gates and pick up the crumbs. Many in the South African media have chosen to be the propagandists of this movement. Barrell may have to explain where he stands regarding this.
Barrell expects Mbeki to harbour white fears in the same way that he (Barrell) does. At the heart of this is the sustenance of white privilege and the protection of ill-gotten gains. This is what informs the M&G’s criticism of the way the president is dealing with the situation in Zimbabwe.
It is true white fears must be addressed, more especially by the president. But he is no white racist and his mission in life is to transform South African society to make it more justiciable and democratic.
Acutely disappointing is Barrell’s withdrawal into the South African laager. This may not be intended, but still represents an alarming trend of Afro- pessimism.
Often reference is made to the quality of advice the president gets. There seems to be an expectation that the team that works with the president should rebel from time to time and cause chaos at least once a week. There is a uniquely strange miscomprehension of the relationship between the head of state and his underlings.
The president derives his authority from the Constitution, Parliament and the electorate. In fact, there is an expectation in the Constitution and other laws of the country that the president governs alone.
The president appoints his ministers, senior aides and advisers to help him carry out his wishes, not to argue with him. If they do not do so he must fire them and it is advisable he does so without warning. That is why it was correct for the former president to fire comrade Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as soon as her conduct and public pronouncements were in conflict with his political objectives. In fact it is accepted practice in the civilised world that the head of state is not compelled to explain his appointments both to the Cabinet and other high offices. Certainly the ministers and advisers must point out shortcomings in the execution of work, but the decisions are finally those of the president, and him alone.
But why should Mbeki behave differently? Upon our return from the United States visit we held a meeting with one of the senior editors in the country. We raised some concerns about the coverage of the visit of the president in his paper. He replied: “But I have said this before, many other editors agree with me. The president must consult us before he takes major national decisions.”
So most white editors in South Africa do not agree that Mbeki has a right to be president of South Africa.
Neither does he have the right to take any decisions about the future of the country, irrespective of the will of the majority. That is the foundation of their criticism of Thabo Mbeki. Unfortunately, South Africa is a democracy.
Parks Mankahlana is the head of communications in the presidency