/ 14 July 2017

Mbeki warns against use of ‘white monopoly capital’ phrase

Unisa chancellor Thabo Mbeki says police have an obligation to act on complaints brought to them by communities.
Unisa chancellor Thabo Mbeki says police have an obligation to act on complaints brought to them by communities.

Former President Thabo Mbeki has warned against the use of “white monopoly capital” phrase and says it is “an abuse of a phrase which was used in scientific economic literature”.

Mbeki was interviewed by Power FM chairperson Given Mkhari on Thursday.

The former president said the focus should not be on catch phrases like white monopoly capital but on the capitalist system itself.

“Let us understand properly what is happening to this capitalist economy so that we can intervene to do the right thing because if we misdiagnose the problem the cure is going to be wrong,” said Mbeki.

“So when somebody comes to you to say the principal enemy of the national democratic revolution is white monopoly capital and things like that, I know the role of monopoly capital,” he continued.

Mbeki also addressed the criticism that some of the policies he adopted during his presidency were based on a false belief that HIV does not cause AIDS.

“There was an issue that was raised in the literature that some of these AIDS drugs had a very high toxic effect and then I said that the matter must be looked at because it may be that it is the drug that kills the people rather than the illness because of the toxicity of the drugs,” said Mbeki.

“As it happened with that, particular drug they actually reduced the dosage globally because the allegation that it was highly toxic was correct,” he continued.

The former president has been previously criticised by many, including the United Kingdom for encouraging Zimbabweans to decide their future during his term.

“It is the responsibility of the people of Zimbabwe to determine their future. It is the responsibility of the people of South Africa to determine our future. An apartheid South Africa very different from independent Zimbabwe. Of course, you can impose sanctions on Apartheid South Africa but let the people of Zimbabwe sort this thing amongst themselves,” said Mbeki.

“An external solution that gets imposed on people the locals will not take ownership. The owners of the problem must own the solution”, he continued.