OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday
SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki – under heavy fire over his leadership – picked up a vote of confidence on Wednesday from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, chairwoman of the women’s league of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
The president faces an ANC congress late next year where he needs to retain the party presidency to run for a second term in 2004.
The ANC’s youth wing came out in support of the president at the weekend. And on Sunday, the ANC national leadership, in a move seen as lining up support for Mbeki, replaced the local party leadership in the Northern province, citing ”persistent internal problems”.
”We come out in support of the president as president of the ANC and of the country,” Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former president Nelson Mandela, told a press conference at parliament, reading from a statement.
Her support of Mbeki came despite stormy relations between the two: she wrote a letter to Deputy President Jacob Zuma last year in which she charged that ambitious back-stabbers were misleading the president by spreading disparaging rumours about her, and reported rumours that Mbeki was involved in liaisons with a number of women.
”How the matter (of relations between Madikizela-Mandela and Mbeki) is going to be handled for now is not an issue,” women’s league member Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakulu told the press conference.
”The issue for us now is that Winnie Mandela as president (of the women’s league) is here to give her support, which is unwavering, to Comrade Thabo Mbeki and the African National Congress,” Mapisa-Nqakulu said.
Criticism of Mbeki has centred on his questioning of the link between HIV and Aids, his ”softly softly” approach to neighbouring Zimbabwe and charges that he has exacerbated racial divisions and is authoritarian.
The respected Mail and Guardian characterised his presidency late last month as ”a disastrous reign”.
On Wednesday, opposition leader Tony Leon wrote in The Sowetan that Mbeki and his inner circle might be undermining democratic gains.
”It is time we drew our own line in the sand,” said Leon, the head of the Democratic Alliance.
”If we sit back or stand aside or say nothing, then we will be complicit in the worst conspiracy of all: the vandalising of our constitution and the potential implosion of our hard-won democratic rights.” – AFP
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