Former president Thabo Mbeki has torn into the ANC for protecting president Cyril Ramaphosa in parliament “at all costs” and for shooting down an inquiry into claims the party benefited from corruption at Eskom.
The former ANC leader, who was recalled by the party in 2008, has equated the ANC protection of Ramaphosa with its defence of former president Jacob Zuma over the Nkandla scandal.
Mbeki sent a scathing 17-page letter to the ANC top seven this week, which was leaked to the media, and which the party says it will “discuss” with the former head of state.
Mbeki said that many South Africans suspected corruption in both matters and that history had shown that the ANC had taken “wrong positions” in defending Zuma, which had cost the party trust among the electorate — and votes.
“It is equally without doubt that any wrong position we take with regard to the Phala Phala matter will also, in equal measure or more, impact negatively on the standing of the ANC with many among the masses of our people,” Mbeki said in the letter.
He said the ANC should not have blocked the formation of a multi-party committee to probe Phala Phala in parliament and ascertain whether Ramaphosa should be impeached.
“I would presume that, as ANC members, we would assume that our president would not do and has not done anything impeachable.
“The puzzle is, why then did we stop an MPC being formed? Are we saying that we suspect or know that he has done something impeachable and therefore decided that we must protect our president at all costs by ensuring that no MPC is formed?” Mbeki asked.
Turning to Eskom, Mbeki said former chief executive André de Ruyter had shown himself to be a “sworn right-wing enemy of the ANC” but that the party had taken a “very wrong” decision to veto the proposed parliamentary probe into corruption at the state electricity entity.
“Work must be done to establish precisely what was done and by whom to create the current Eskom crisis. It was very wrong that we took a decision to veto the initiation of a parliamentary process specifically focused on investigating the criminal activities at Eskom,” he wrote.
This would add to the “alienation of the masses” which was being exacerbated by the decision to protect ANC leaders from investigations into corruption, he said.
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula said at a media briefing on Thursday that the party would “seek an audience” with Mbeki, who had written several such letters in recent years, before responding.
“It is only fair that the ANC will consider the commentary and seek a discussion. This is not the first letter … the modus operandi has been the same,” Mbalula said.
“This is a political matter that must be engaged upon openly with the leadership.”
Mbalula said Mbeki was a veteran leader of the party and that “we have got to listen”, as he had raised the issues he wrote about in the letter “for good purpose.”
ANC members and leaders should exercise restraint and allow national officials and the national executive committee to “engage with the content of the letter”.
He said the issues raised by Mbeki were important for the survival of the ANC and “we will engage with the former president on the matters that he is raising”.