Finance Minister Trevor Manuel ought to succeed President Thabo Mbeki but would not because he was ”not black enough”, the Democratic Alliance said on Friday.
”He would be a harder candidate for the DA to compete against than any of the other alternatives on display,” wrote opposition leader Tony Leon in his weekly letter.
He said despite Manuel’s ”nasty ideological streak that sometimes gets the better of his financial judgement,” his performance measured up to and even exceeded many of his counterparts in the developed world.
Despite this, Leon said there was very little chance of Manuel becoming president.
”And therein lies the main reason for Trevor Manuel’s exclusion: he is not black — or not black enough for the ANC (African National Congress), at any rate,” he said.
Leon said Manuel’s recent ill temper was evidence of him having realised this.
”Mr Manuel is always ready for a good quarrel, for witty and not-so-witty exchanges across the benches in the National Assembly. But his latest remarks have an edge — an unusual sense of anger and frustration. So we may ask: what’s ailing Mr Manuel?” queried Leon in his letter.
He believed it was the succession debate which had failed to name him as a possible successor to Mbeki, despite a global trend that finance ministers were often first in line to become heads of government.
”Trevor Manuel is never mentioned among the serious contenders for the ANC presidency or the presidency of the nation itself after Thabo Mbeki goes. This is in spite of the fact that Mr Manuel has clearly outperformed all of the other possible choices within the ANC,” he said.
Leon said it was Manuel’s realisation that he had hit the ANC glass ceiling that was causing his frustration and bitterness.
”He is experiencing firsthand the hollowness of the ruling party’s commitment to non-racialism, the blowback from the… continuing battle to assert African hegemony in the context of a multicultural and non-racial society,” Leon said. – Sapa