Mbeki's brother slams his firing

2008-09-25 09:38

Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki's brother, Moeletsi, has criticised the decision by the ANC to remove him from office.

"We used to look at the ANC for stability... now it's a source of instability for the country," he said in an interview with The Star newspaper published on Thursday.

"I think the comrades don't really know what the real world is made of, and they are doing things which are way out of their league," said political commentator Mbeki, who is the president's younger brother.

He said the ANC "was overreaching themselves... and could do a lot of harm to the country."

He believed they should rather have taken disciplinary action within the party.

Mbeki said watching the political crisis unfold was like watching the ANC national executive committee playing with a large gun.

"But my God, if it does go off the wrong way, the damage it can cause to themselves and everyone else would be tremendous."

Expected decision to remove Mbeki

However, he said he expected the decision to remove Mbeki. He expected that the comrades "would get carried away".

"I now expect anything from the ANC; nothing surprises me."

"It's like a jersey. Once you pull a thread and it starts running, it keeps going and you don't know where it will end. You may end up with no jersey, or with a big hole in it.

"The problem is that the person cutting the thread doesn't know how to make a jersey. They don't know how to stop the thread running, as it rapidly unveils," said Mbeki.

He said the new ANC leadership was very different from the old guard.

"Are there any lawyers in the group that there's now? How many economists are in the NEC? How many engineers? How many doctors? How many people with master's degrees? I haven't heard much about those. This is a totally different ANC...

"You are kind of entering an era of anarchy," he added, referring to the string of cabinet ministers that have resigned.

- SAPA