ANC heavyweight and a prominent backer of President Jacob Zuma, Paul Ngobeni, has lashed out at planning minister Trevor Manuel, calling him a gangster of the worst kind, the Sunday Independent reported on Sunday.
Ngobeni’s attack on Manuel followed the minister’s open letter to government spokesperson Jimmy Manyi in which he accused him of being a racist in the mould of apartheid’s architect, HF Verwoerd.
Ngobeni said Manuel acted as if he was “the king of coloured people”. He accused Manuel of undermining the president and the Cabinet for appointing Manyi as government spokesperson. He also called for Manuel to be fired.
Ngobeni also accused Manuel of not being familiar the Constitution and of using his position as a senior member of Cabinet and of the African National Congress to try to get rid of Manyi.
‘Gangster-like fashion’
“I was appalled by your cowardly, unwarranted and racist attacks on Manyi,” Ngobeni wrote in an open letter to Manuel.
“In gangster-like fashion some of you have deliberately targeted Manyi and have relentlessly pursued an agenda of driving him out of any position where his views may be heard.”
Ngobeni also said that the matters raised in Manyi’s original comment about the “over concentration of coloureds in the Western Cape”, was a national issue and not exclusively a coloured matter. He said it was not racist to debate these issues freely and frankly.
In his letter, Manuel lashed out at Manyi last week after comments made by Manyi when he was director general of the labour department.
Manuel accused Manyi of being a “worst-order racist”.
Manyi has since refused to comment on Manuel’s accusations.
On Sunday Manuel also refused to comment on Ngobeni’s open letter.
The ANC has distanced itself from Manuel’s attack on Manyi, saying the minister acted without the party’s blessing.
Last week Zuma called for restraint in the stand-off, saying no one should use race for political grandstanding.
In Sunday’s Rapport, cleric Allan Boesak, also lashed out at Manyi, accusing him of poisoning people’s minds. – Sapa