The decision of who should succeed President Thabo Mbeki as leader of the African National Congress in 2007 depends on the ”sense of comfort” among party members closer to the time, he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday night.
He was interviewed by the national broadcaster’s political editor Vuyo Mvoko.
Asked whether he would accept being nominated for the position if that was what members wanted, Mbeki said: ”Fine … it depends … two-and-a-half years is a long way ahead. I might be tired by then.”
He remarked that it might be better for a younger person to fill the position, bringing in new ideas and new blood.
Mbeki also said the ANC should leave making the decision about whether he could lead the party for an extra term, to closer to 2007, when the party held its next national conference.
Asked what was driving voices seeking for the matter to be resolved sooner, he said: ”I don’t know.”
He added: ”Nobody [in the party] has raised it with me. I see it in the media.”
He also said it was not the ANC’s way to groom anyone for the position as President of the country. The party would not do that in preparation for the end of his term in 2009.
”When the time comes, people will say — we trust this one to succeed. The ANC has never groomed leaders.”
In the interview, Mbeki also expressed doubts that the alliance with the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African National Civics Organisation was shaky. He put the existence of ”natural tensions” down to different tasks and different mandates between the ANC and other alliance parties.
”Certainly the ANC cannot act only on the basis of what its allies say.”
The ruling party also had to consult with business, consumers and the international community, he said.
Mbeki fobbed off any possibility of the alliance falling apart.
”In the labour market, all legislation introduced came out of the alliance. I am certain workers would say that the party that has advanced their interests is the ANC.
”With new demands, the people most likely to listen are [still] the ANC.”
He told the SABC that to tackle South Africa’s problems, unity was needed ”even beyond the alliances”, including greater numbers of South Africans.
The party would not change the Constitution to allow him another term of office as President of the country, he said.
”The South African Constitution is essentially a product of the ANC.”
In spite of having a two-thirds majority, it had not touched it.
”And we are not going to, because it is our Constitution,” said Mbeki.
No regrets
Mbeki said he has no regrets in hindsight on how he dealt with firing his deputy, Jacob Zuma, he told the South African Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday night.
”I explained in Parliament the reason for the way we acted. There is nothing to add or subtract from that explanation.”
He said that calls such as ”Jacob Zuma for President” at the party’s recent national general council were abnormal for the ANC.
”It was important to say [to them] — you are members of an organisation and there are certain disciplines that have to be observed. Certain behaviour is alien.”
Protests about service delivery were the result of local ANC branches not maintaining sufficient contact with their electorates, Mbeki said.
Mbeki criticised individuals at all levels of government who used positions in the party for their own self-interest.
He also said a huge challenge the party faced was having the funds to give it organisational capacity.
The recent NGC had decided that branch subsidies should remain in branch coffers rather than a portion being sent to head office. The same should apply where party officials were able to generate resources at regional level.
”We are trying to look at ways to increase organisational capacity,” he said.
Entirely out of our hands
The value of the rand cannot fundamentally be changed by the government playing around with interest rates, Mbeki said.
Mbeki said a portrayed left-right divide within the African National Congress and its alliance partners were the result of different parties having different bases of information.
”Somebody who understands, knows that … commodity-driven economies [of different countries] behave in the same way. The value of the currency depends more on the value of the commodities and the value for the dollar.
”Both are entirely out of our hands,” said Mbeki.
”Somebody who has read that to reduce interest rates [will solve the exchange rate problem] will of course agitate for that.
”There are different positions because not everybody has the same access to the same base of information,” he said.
Cosatu has called for the reduction in the value of the rand by reducing interest rates. – Sapa