Minister of Intelligence Ronnie Kasrils’s failure to make public a report on hoax e-mails by former intelligence head Billy Masetlha raises suspicions of a conspiracy against African National deputy president Jacob Zuma.
This is according to Young Communist League (YCL) national chairperson David Masondo, speaking at a press briefing in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
”For some time we have been forced to retract our suspicions of an existing political plot aimed at ensuring that the ANC deputy president does not assume any public office.
”If indeed Masetlha’s report is also a hoax and an illusion of his mind, why is it not made public to prove that there is no political conspiracy?” Masondo asked.
He said the YCL believes the South African public have the capacity to decide whether the report is false. ”Kasrils dismissed the report’s contents as not being authentic, but we believe it’s up to the public to decide.”
Masetlha was fired as director general of intelligence. Two people who worked under him have since been arrested in connection with the hoax e-mails.
In a Sunday Times report on June 4, Kasrils revealed information on Masetlha’s investigations, according to which there was a political conspiracy against Zuma.
Kasrils told the Sunday Times that the report contained four pages of e-mails purporting to show communication between Scorpions officials, the Democratic Alliance and certain journalists.
He also told the paper that Masetlha appeared to have been desperate to make President Thabo Mbeki and him ”believe that there are groups or a group involved in a conspiracy against Zuma”.
But the YCL was not happy, saying a full report should have been made public.
Subsequently Kasrils demanded an apology from the YCL after it made statements that ”he held keys to proving that there is no conspiracy against Zuma”.
”The YCL will never apologise for commenting on Kasrils’s possible involvement in a plot to destroy Zuma. The minister is the one who should apologise for failing to provide the hoax e-mail report.”
Masondo also lashed out at the ANC government and its current economic policies.
”We reiterate our call for the South African Communist Party [SACP] to stand for elections as a political party and for it to openly express interest to influence Parliament, the executive and various institutions of power.
”This will ensure that the interests of the working class and the poor are advanced,” he said.
He disputed claims that the SACP’s stance to stand for elections would affect the tripartite alliance negatively.
”It is clear that communism and nationalism do not stand for the same thing. The YCL is a socialist party and standing for elections will only benefit the segregated people who have been further sidelined by initiatives like black economic empowerment [BEE],” Masondo said.
”The Reserve Bank, like the BEE initiative, does not respond to South Africa’s demand for advancement. People in charge set standards according to the international market, overlooking the fact that the South African market is very different to international ones,” Masondo said. — Sapa