The African National Congress (ANC) has dismissed as ”scurrilous” Congress of South African Trade Union (Cosatu) claims that President Thabo Mbeki has left the ANC ”fractious and deeply divided”.
Cosatu’s criticism could not stand up to ”honest scrutiny”, the ANC said in a statement on Monday.
The labour federation came out against Mbeki on Saturday in an angry response to his online ”Letter from the president”.
In a statement, it accused him of playing the race card in a way that suggested business was ”blacker” than working-class components of the tripartite alliance.
Mbeki always sought to misrepresent people’s genuine concerns in order to ridicule those he disagreed with and question their integrity, it charged.
”He throws the race card even against organisations whose membership is constituted mainly by the very ANC members he is leading.”
In the process, he had antagonised countless organisations and ”left the ANC and the alliance fractious and deeply divided”, Cosatu claimed.
The ANC responded on Monday, saying Mbeki had been ”articulating the views of the organisation” — as was his responsibility.
His central point was that a number of organisations acted publicly on the basis of unfounded, untrue allegations, said spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama.
While this was to be expected of the Democratic Alliance, the ANC hoped alliance partners would check on the accuracy of newspaper reports before making ill-informed public pronouncements.
The ANC had found that the assumption of corruption without supporting evidence — as Cosatu had done — was rooted in deep-seated attitudes about race.
”The fact that Cosatu members are predominantly black does not preclude these attitudes from finding resonance in the public positions of the federation,” said Ngonyama.
”The ANC welcomes a dispassionate and informed debate within the alliance on whether public representatives should invest in companies, while abiding by the codes of conduct and rules and regulations that pertain to members of Parliament and the executive.
”However, the ANC has both a right and responsibility to respond to unfounded attacks on the integrity and probity of its leaders from whatever quarter they may emanate.”
The ANC regarded the criticism of Mbeki and the leaders of the ANC as ”unfounded, misplaced and regrettable”, he said. — Sapa