Mbeki defends his AIDS policies, says he will address the public soon

Although he has been heavily critical of his successor Jacob Zuma, former president Thabo Mbeki has failed to acknowledge any shortcomings during his nine-year presidential tenure.

This week, Mbeki ramped up his criticism of Zuma’s presidency, calling the latter’s nine years in office a “disaster”,  asserting that Zuma was “a wolf in sheep’s skin”. 

However, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK party), which Zuma founded to take on the governing ANC that he is still a member at the 29 May national elections, pointed out that Mbeki was responsible for 300 000 people dying from AIDS-related illnesses after failing to procure treatment for the pandemic.

Speaking to journalists in Mabopane, north of Tshwane during the ANC’s campaign on Saturday, Mbeki said he needed to have a press briefing with journalists to explain his decision regarding his policies on HIV and AIDS.

“I’ve tried to explain what has happened in South Africa in the last 30 years in detail; that question (failure to deal with HIV & AIDS) you ask has been answered,” he said. 

“There was particular work that was done by [the] government, political parties, trade unions, business and everybody which produced a particular result.

“Things changed, and I explained why things changed, other people who did not want success intervened,” he added, without elaborating on who stymied his pandemic response.

“Let’s have a conference with the media, and I’ll give that lecture again so that you don’t ask questions that have already been answered.”

Meanwhile, Mbeki said President Cyril Ramaphosa agreed to his suggestion, that after the elections, a national convention should be called to speak about how the country should deal with the problems arising during the last 30 years of democracy.

The former president said crime, poverty, and unemployment were among some of the things that have caused strife in the last 30 years.

“That’s what we want to do. It doesn’t matter who gets elected. The country must get together to say what we do to solve these problems,” Mbeki stressed.

“I think that is what will take our country out of all the problems that it has.”

Mbeki said the ANC should not make promises in the campaign without living up to them.

“We also say these are the successes we have made over last 30 years, that is correct but the real challenge is there’s somebody who lives today  who says today I’m unemployed, today I’m hungry and I have no water.”