/ 16 April 2001

No hanky-panky in Mbeki?s office

WOMEN cabinet ministers in South Africa have banded together to defend President Thabo Mbeki against accusations that he is a womaniser.

A statement by Minister of Public Service Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, issued on behalf of all the women in the cabinet, and women deputy ministers, was published in the Sunday Independent newspaper.

It says they took “this extraordinary step” because people in public office were being attacked with the aim of demeaning their stature.

“Our concern is heightened further by the fact that the unwarranted attacks, innuendo and insults are also directed at women in positions of responsibility in the public sector,” the statement says.

“Among the assumptions feeding the rumour mill is the chauvinistic attitude that female citizens who occupy these posts do so as a result of favours extended to men in senior positions.”

Max du Preez, a respected Afrikaner journalist, declared on a radio show on April 8, in comments splashed over the front page of The Citizen newspaper two days later: “He [Mbeki] is seen as a womaniser. It is publicly known, and I think we should start talking about this … ”

Smuts Ngonyama, representative for the ruling African National Congress (ANC), responded that the party would not take “these latest attacks lying down.”

“Max du Preez and his ‘old friends’ have clearly embarked on a warpath and such statements on the ANC are a declaration of war,” Ngonyama said.

Du Preez’s comments followed a letter Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former wife of ex-president Nelson Mandela, wrote to Deputy President Jacob Zuma in May last year.

In that letter, published in South African newspapers in January, she reported rumours at ANC headquarters linking Mbeki with five women, including ministers and deputy ministers.

Du Preez told the Sunday Independent that he had not said anything about women cabinet ministers.

“The minister is clearly reacting to Winnie’s letter or something else in the ANC, clearly not to what I said.

“I said we should understand the struggle in the ANC by taking note of the fact that gossip about the president’s personal life is part of the dynamic inside the party and we should look at it because there is a power struggle going on,” he said.

Du Preez did not give any details of a power struggle, but Zuma issued a statement on April 3 to say attempts were being made to drive a wedge between himself and Mbeki.

He said there were rumours and “unverified, so-called intelligence reports” that he might challenge Mbeki for the ANC presidency.

“I believe our current president is certainly capable of leading both the ANC and the country, and my confidence in him remains unwavering,” he declared. – AFP