The African National Congress took a conciliatory stance on Monday in its spat with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, saying the archbishop remained highly respected as a South African leader.
Earlier on Monday, Tutu used irony to rebuke President Thabo Mbeki for his scathing attack last week on the archbishop, in a newsletter on the African National Congress website ANC Today.
Tutu said in a statement: ”Thank you Mr President for telling me what you think of me, that I am — a liar with scant regard for the truth, and a charlatan posing with his concern for the poor, the hungry, the oppressed and the voiceless.
”I will continue to pray for you and your government by name daily as I have done and as I did even for the apartheid
government. God bless you.”
Monday is coincidentally the anniversary of Tutu’s appointment as chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995.
On Monday afternoon, ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said Tutu’s statement had been noted.
”The ANC wishes to indicate that the president’s letter (on ANC Today) reflects the views of the organisation on the matters raised last week by Archbishop Tutu,” he said in a statement.
”Thank you Archbishop Tutu for your comments. Neither the ANC nor its president regards you as ‘a liar with scant regard for the truth’, but we do recognise that even someone like yourself has the capacity to err.
”Neither the ANC nor its president regards you as ‘a charlatan posing with his concern for the poor, the hungry, the oppressed and the voiceless’, but rather as one of many leaders in this country who have sought and continue to seek to further the interests of the poor and oppressed.
”We will continue to regard you as a respected leader within our society whose contribution to the life of this country is highly valued,” Ngonyama said.
In his newsletter on Friday, Mbeki took issue with Tutu over statements the archbishop made last week, saying fundamental requirements for rational discussion was familiarity with the facts and respect for the truth.
Delivering this year’s Nelson Mandela Lecture last Tuesday, Tutu said, among other things: ”We should not too quickly want to pull rank and to demand an uncritical, sycophantic, obsequious conformity.”
Responding in his newsletter, Mbeki said: ”One of the fundamental requirements for the rational discussion suggested by the archbishop is familiarity with the facts relevant to any matter under discussion, as well as respect for the truth.
”The archbishop has never been a member of the ANC, and would have very little knowledge of what happens even in an ANC branch. How he comes to the conclusion that there is ‘lack of debate’ in the ANC is most puzzling,” Mbeki said.
Meanwhile, the rift between the ANC and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) appeared to widen as the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) accused ”immature” individuals in the ANC of launching personal attacks on Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
Samwu said it found it ”extremely distasteful and immature that certain individuals within the ANC see fit to launch personalised attacks” against Vavi.
”Such persons are, or should be fully aware, that Cosatu has just emerged from its central executive committee [CEC] meeting, and that in addressing the issue of Zimbabwe [Vavi] speaks with the full authority of Cosatu and all its affiliates.
”As one of those affiliates, we held our own CEC the previous week. We received a report from one of our comrades who was part of the recent (fact-finding) delegation to meet with out fraternal unions in Zimbabwe,” Samwu said.
”As workers, our members want a solution to the problems in Zimbabwe, but this cannot include standing by quietly when in the normal course of exercising our right to build solidarity with workers in southern Africa, we find ourselves treated in this manner,” Samwu said.
Vavi has supported Tutu’s lecture about the ”culture of sycophancy in the ANC”.
On Sunday, Ngonyama reportedly responded: ”As the ANC, we take serious exception to that kind of statement… from a leader who is highly reckless, highly impetuous, and Vavi has demonstrated over and over again that he is reckless.” – Sapa