'The tension is palpable'

2008-09-22 13:11

Jon Cayzer

My tranquil brunch with some of my closest friends on Saturday morning was shattered when my friend Angela Quintal, executive editor of the Star and, until recently, group political editor of Independent, rang me. Tartly, she said: "Mbeki's gone. I want Buthelezi's reaction and - not the standard one that goes out to all the other papers".

We, of course, knew that Mbeki's "recalling" - to use that strange sounding Soviet era phrase of the ANC's NEC - was pending, but I was still pole axed when Angela told me. I was, to be honest, moved and felt a little emotional. I personally felt that the ANC should have let the President serve out his few remaining months in office and that was probably the mood of the country.

Heart pounding, I quickly rang Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi - he was unveiling a statue to his grandfather King Dinuzulu in KwaZulu-Natal - and we quickly agreed a common line.

Yes, it was the ANC's internal business. Yes, they were acting within the ambit of the Constitution, but it clearly held serious consequences for the country's economy - particularly with the global economic meltdown and political stability. Buthelezi was, as always, magnanimous about the President's achievements. This was not the time to emphasis the negative side of the score card.

The atmosphere at Parliament is electrifying and strangely muted at the same time: suppressed feelings. The only time I recall anything like the mood was when, in 1990, Margaret Thatcher was disposed in an act of matricide that, 'til this day, still haunts the Conservative Party like Banquo's ghost in Macbeth.

Although the circumstances are different (after all, none of Thatcher's potential successors were facing serious legal challenges and she was deeply unpopular in the country), my gut feeling is that the brutal slaying of the Philosopher King President is going to do much the same for the ANC and SA.

Most of my colleagues and friends are worried about the - still fragile - national unity and the impact on our image abroad.

Just a few minutes ago, I caught up with one of closest friends, Suzanne Vos MP. As she put it: "the sense of tension from the car park to the corridors of parliament is palpable. When you pass small gatherings of MPs, some keep on talking, whilst others immediately clam up."

Some will tell you "we have decided that Motlanthe will be President". Others still "say they have decided that Mottlanthe will be President".

Then the IFP Chief Whip, Koos van der Merwe, came in to say that he was meeting with the ANC Chief Whip, Andre Nel, and the Whips of the other parties to determine if it will be tomorrow or Thursday that President Mbeki will resign in Parliament in keeping with the Constitution.

We are still waiting as we need to notify Buthelezi immediately so that he can fly to Cape Town.

We are now listening to ANC President Jacob Zuma's live address to the nation assuring us that there will be a smooth transition. I am not so sure.

Jon Cayzer, Private Secretary to Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi writes in his private capacity and does not express the views of the IFP.

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