Neither President Thabo Mbeki nor ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma is suitable candidate to lead the party. So said Archbishop Desmond Tutu this week. The country needs an inspirational leader to take the reins of the ANC.
“The nation is in distress and needs a political leader who cares for them and makes them feel as though they matter. The political leaders can’t cheat the people,” he said in an interview with the Mail & Guardian.
“There are other candidates — why are we concentrating on those two only [Zuma and Mbeki]? Remember that I speak as a non-ANC-member and I can’t be prescriptive, but I have a deep sense of unease,” he said.
“We don’t seem to be talking about policy differences between the two leaders. It’s merely a question of personality and how much attraction the one candidate has over the other.”
Nobel laureate and anti-apartheid struggle hero Tutu warned against Mbeki staying on as leader of the ANC, but also warned against a Zuma leadership because of the possible criminal prosecution that continues to hang over his head.
“It’s so easy to start a pattern where people are permanently in their positions of power — it’s an old African illness where somebody becomes a president for life. But at the same time it seems as though we’re not serious about the consequences when our next leader may face corruption charges. We’re very worried about these issues,” Tutu said.
Referring to the rape cases against Zuma, he said: “We’re very worried that this leader had relations with a woman who regarded him as a parent and, although he is very likeable, we have to ask ourselves: ‘What is happening in the ANC?’ I would like to see these issues being taken seriously and addressed.”
Tutu said South Africans needs a leader who can inspire the nation “like Madiba used to” — somebody who is selfless, and who really cares about people and who has integrity.
“We’re feeling insecure because of the violence and crime and it makes us feel very worried indeed. Living behind locked doors and high walls and electric fences is not good for us and our leader needs to know this.”
Tutu criticised the ANC government for allowing public debate to be smothered. “My father used to have an expression: ‘Improve your argument, don’t raise your voice’ … It’s a very good saying. The public discourse has deteriorated in quality and now we have leaders who are not the sharpest thinkers and they’re carrying the day and we shouldn’t allow that to happen.”
In a clear reference to Mbeki and his leadership, Tutu said: “We should be frank and talk about the things that are not okay in our society — things like HIV/Aids and crime. We have an outstanding finance minister [Trevor Manuel] for instance, but that can’t be said about our minister of health. When we attack her [Manto Tshabalala-Msimang], we’re attacking her as a public servant and not as a person. She made South Africa the laughing stock of the world and instead of showing her the door, her deputy [Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge] is fired.
At the same time it seems very odd to suspend Vusi Pikoli while retaining the police commissioner, Jackie Selebi, in his position. Those questions need to be asked and we need to debate these things,” he said. Tutu said he hoped the ANC’s congress would “recapture that for which the ANC stands”.
“One of the things which has attracted so many different people from the country and from around the world to the ANC has always been its altruistic nature and establishing freedom for those so in need of it. We need to recapture the essence of this organisation, which means that criticism and debate are part of its essence,” Tutu said.
Commenting on Mbeki’s leadership, which has been characterised by his defensive attitude to any criticism, Tutu said: “Criticism and debate have always been the lifeblood of democracy. We have to learn to celebrate the diversity among ourselves again. When people are critical and have different political persuasions, their patriotism shouldn’t be questioned. Apartheid was inimical to this and we should never repeat this,” he warned.
He criticised the ANC for spending resources on name changes, calling them “divisive”.
“Why is the ANC spending so much time and effort changing names? Nobody would argue changing the name of Kafferskraal because it’s offensive but, 13 years down the line, why this obsession for changing names and making out as though we’re honouring all the people of our struggle while, in effect, those honoured all come from the same political camp?”
“If you ask a woman living in a shack what her priorities are, she’s definitely not going to say changing the names of places or streets — she wants a decent home and services. There are far better things in which to invest energy and resources. Changing names is not a priority and the ANC today is pretending it is,” he said.
Asked if the rainbow nation had lost some of its lustre, Tutu said: “We’re a vibrant society — look at the rugby World Cup and what extraordinary things did we see then! I mean, I saw black women wearing rugby clothes. I didn’t even know that black women watched rugby! We’re still an incredible bunch of people. We’re fantastic and that’s why we get so upset when things are obviously not going right. For all its craziness there’s a vibrancy here — ons kom altyd terug [we always come back].”