Mbeki has not called for probe

2005-09-08 19:13

Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki told parliament on Thursday he had not called for a judicial commission of inquiry to unearth causes of underlying tensions in the tripartite alliance.

"At no point have I called for a judicial commission of inquiry, which would then be an institution set up by the state and funded by the state," he said.

He was responding to questions by Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon in the national assembly.

Leon had demanded assurances that no state or government resources would be used in the furtherance of any commission.

"This will purely be - if you will confirm this - a party matter and will not involve any state resources at all should you have a commission of enquiry," Leon asked.

Mbeki last month proposed that a commission be established to discuss the Zuma saga that had caused tensions to flare between the African National Congress, the SA Communist Party and Congress of SA Trade Unions.

Probe into conspiracy claims

The call was made in a letter addressed to an alliance meeting as a possible means of allaying fears that former deputy president Jacob Zuma was the target of a conspiracy.

Mbeki suggested the alliance should set up the commission to establish whether "members of the ANC and broad democratic movement, including the president of the ANC, had been and are involved in a conspiracy targeted at marginalising or destroying deputy president Zuma".

Some members of the alliance believed there was a politically inspired conspiracy to stop Zuma from becoming the next president of the ANC.

But the SACP and Cosatu rejected the proposed commission, saying it was not the correct way to solve the problem.

Mbeki says he won't retract

Answering further questions from Leon concerning Zuma, Mbeki said his office had not received representations appealing for Zuma's reinstatement as deputy president or for the pending corruption charges to be dropped.

"The honourable leader of the opposition is referring to the statement I made at a joint sitting of parliament on June 24 this year.

"In that statement, I clearly spelt out the reasons for releasing Mr Zuma from his government responsibilities. Those reasons still apply," he said.

He said he had no intention of reinstating Zuma nor instructing the national prosecuting authority to withdraw the corruption case against Zuma.

- SAPA