President Thabo Mbeki’s office has rejected Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon’s request for him to make a statement about not changing the Constitution to allow him a third term as president.
Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said that Mbeki had never accepted instructions from the likes of Leon.
”It has never happened in the past and is not about to happen.”
Khumalo added: ”In any event Leon himself is about to enter his third term as leader of the DA.”
Leon said he had written to Mbeki on Friday to ask about his stance on the issue.
Writing in his weekly newsletter, Leon said ”there is talk about the president trying to serve three terms”.
”Former president [Nelson] Mandela has already seen fit to declare publicly that he is sure that President Mbeki would never do such a thing.
But the president himself has refused to say. His spokespeople carefully refuse to give any guarantee that he will not try to change the Constitution in order to run for a third term,” he said.
The only way to dispel these rumours was for Mbeki himself to declare he would step down at the end of his next term, should he be inaugurated after this election was over.
Leon said he had written to Mbeki on Friday to ask about his stance on the issue.
The letter included the phrase: ”… would you, therefore, kindly give an unequivocal commitment that there will be no attempt in the next five years to alter the Constitution to amend section 88 (2) which states: ‘No person may hold office as President for more than two terms’.”
”A simple declaration will suffice: ‘I will not seek to change Section 88 (2) of the Constitution and I will not seek a third term as president’. That will be all it takes for the issue to go away.
”That is the simple assurance that the people of South Africa seek, and deserve,” Leon said. — Sapa