The African National Congress on Monday defended President Thabo Mbeki’s leadership style, saying it rejected outright assertions that he was drifting towards dictatorship.
”Statements about tendencies towards dictatorship and the centralisation of powers within the ANC and government presidencies … are not borne out by reality,” ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe told a press briefing in Johannesburg.
”Unless properly rebutted, these statements may cause confusion and uncertainty among the membership of the alliance and among the broader public.”
Motlanthe said the ANC would seek a meeting with its alliance partners, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), to clarify these statements.
”It will do so better to understand the views of these alliance structures to clearly communicate the positions of the ANC and ultimately to strengthen the alliance as a unified and coherent force capable of leading the process of national-democratic transformation.”
Motlanthe stressed the fact that the ANC is ”not divided. There is no such division at all,” he said.
He was speaking after a weekend ANC national executive committee (NEC) meeting, which rejected as ”without foundation” perceived notions of a division among senior ANC leaders.
He said its deputy president, Jacob Zuma attended the meeting but recused himself when the aftermath of his rape trial was discussed.
Reasons behind discussing the rape trial during the meeting were because of certain ”utterances” Zuma made during the trial and whether it ”dented the image of the ANC,” said Motlanthe.
An NEC meeting on May 14 was held especially to consider Zuma’s letter of requital to be accepted back into the structures.
Last week Cosatu leader Zwelinzima Vavi said the main fears of the Cosatu central executive committee (CEC) centred on signs of a drift towards dictatorship.
”Examples include the decision to pull a film said to be critical of the president [Thabo Mbeki] off the SABC, the use of public institutions, including the NPA [National Prosecuting Authority], against Jacob Zuma, the purging of an allegedly pro-Zuma faction in the security services, the arrest of Cosatu leaders at the Swaziland border and in Cape Town and the heavy handed nature of the police dealings with protests.”
Vavi said the CEC was concerned about a combination of processes being used to marginalise opposition.
”Dictatorship never announces its arrival,” Vavi said. ”It won’t, like drum majorettes, beat drums and parade down the street to announce it has arrived.
”The main concern of the committee centres on signs that we may be drifting towards dictatorship. This appears in the use of state institutions … in narrow factional fights,” he said.
”We see it in the use of sections of the media to assassinate the character of individuals through off-the-record briefings and the leaking of sensitive information in the hands of those charged to investigate crimes.” — Sapa