Monwabisi Gebhuza, News24 User
In what has been hailed as a "magnificent" resignation speech by President Mbeki, lies a lot of grief and self vindication. Mantashe had observed that Mbeki did not display shock or depression, in the same vain that Balzac's clerics perversely monitored the responses of those they were burning on the stake.
There is much to be shocked and depressed about: Mbeki has to endure to be the first ANC president to be ousted from party leadership in its 96 years old history. He is also the second ANC president to fall foul of radical currents sweeping the movement. Dr AB Xuma, in a "mutiny" launched against him, had to make way for JS Moroka whom the Youth League deemed as more radical.
Marx speaks of great events in history repeating themselves twice, occurring first as a tragedy and secondly as a farce. In this same vain, the ascendance of the likes of Malema and their claim to represent the radical strain of the old Youth Leaguers is of farcical proportions.
Not the first
Mbeki is not the first presiding head of state in South Africa to fall foul of the ruling party and become a casualty of contingency. The once impregnable Botha, the "empire" President, charted his own down fall by holding to State Presidency while having resigned from the party he had alienated himself from.
The duality of power for a President enjoying a hostile relation with the ruling party and the Assembly is nothing new in the South African politics. When Botha was ousted as State president, he also resigned from the National Party. Mbeki has reasserted his ANC membership, thus ending the similarity to the Botha affair. This loyalty heightens the tragedy.
He mentions his 52 years of dedication to the ANC, implying, in a Whitney Houston fashion, they cannot take that away from him. In his resignation, he acted "accordingly", that is, for the best interests of the ANC and what it stands for. He then moves on to state what the ANC stands for. This is possibly the harshest challenge he throws to his detractors.
The service he has rendered as the State President, Mbeki posits, has at all times been based on the vision, the principles and values that have guided the ANC. Thus everything he has done had the interests of the nation at heart. This opens up the question, are his detractors actions governed by this vision, these interests?
He reminds them that the work he has done "has at all times been based on the age-old values of Ubuntu, of selflessness, sacrifice, and service in a manner that ensures that the interests of the people take precedence over our desires as individuals". The question then becomes whether his detractors are governed by the same motives.
One conjures up the issue of the scraping of the Scorpions because they impugned on Zuma's integrity, the wrath unleashed against the Judiciary for being counter-revolutionary, apartheid era judges, etc. Was this an issue of individuals' desires taking precedent over those of the people? Again, these old-age values of Ubuntu, are they informing the actions of his detractors?
Wrong-doing
The self-vindication effect of the speech draws influence from political defence speeches along the lines of Mandela and Blanqui. Mbeki does not accept any wrong doing; everything he did was geared at fulfilling the visions and principles of the ANC, a better life for all. Now when the desires of individuals are posited against this selflessness and sacrifice
Mbeki claims to have abided by, the resignation speech becomes a plea of innocence. However, like Mandela, he does not expect justice from his detractors and will therefore abide by the pronouncement. He accepts the resignation but also takes the opportunity to remind all that the government he was privileged to work in acted and worked in the true spirit of values such as selflessness and sacrifice.
Handing over the baton, Mbeki is questioning whether the successors will be driven by the same principles. This is a strong challenge that should really get the Zuma camp worried.
The fact that Mbeki mentions the word Ubuntu twice is not by fluke, it is highly purposeful. He is entrenching this noble virtue on his detractors, possibly reminding them that they never extended this "All-ANC" attribute to him. Thus when he traces it from Chief Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and others, he is implicitly saying that his detractors are off course and may forfeit the chance of following where Mandela left of.
Of course when Malema traced his brand of radicalism from the Mandelas, nobody took him seriously, and now Mbeki is pleading for the ANC to carry from where Mandela left of. This is yet another challenge Mbeki is posing for his detractors.
The economic stability achieved by the governments Mbeki served in, is quite another tough act to follow. What seemed like a progress report, was actually an exhortation to his detractors to curb their enthusiasm and get things into perspective. Hence the dissuasion against 'triumphalism'.
Maginificence
What accounts for Mbeki's "magnificence" and "calm" is the moral edge he feels he has over his detractors, to him they definitely do not embody the age-long Ubuntu of the Tambos. Secondly, he is comfortable about the achievements of his government. He owns up that the fruits of the economic growth are still to be equitably shared among the people. For him this can be changed.
This shortfall alone could have been enough to galvanise resentment against Mbeki's policies and tenure. The critical support Zuma enjoys from the SACP and Cosatu is seen as an outcry against poverty and inequality, resulting from Mbeki's neoliberal economic policies. However Zuma's commitment to safeguarding local and international business interests places his project very far from "socialistic" leanings. This makes his support by the "left" a marvel to watch.
On a substantive level, Mbeki is said to have undermined ANC's democratic structures, was too aloof and had centralised power to himself. There are ANC parliamentarians, functionaries and Ministers who suffered from his purges. His downfall therefore echoes Greek tragedy. However the questions he poses with his speech, the challenges he casts for his deposers should haunt anyone not desensitised to the works of Shakespeare.
Judiciary
Finally when he confronts the issue of the judiciary, the most sensitive part of the speech, he denies wrong doing. His government has always respected judicial rulings. We are instantly reminded of Malema, Vavi and Mantashe's determination to not respect judgement unfavourable to Zuma. The former swore to kill or die for Zuma should he not be vindicated by the "counterrevolutionary" judges. And he was vindicated at the cost of Mbeki.
Judge Nicholson's obiter dictum that the executive interfered with the prosecution processes became the fatal blow to Mbeki's legitimacy. Zuma was vindicated and thus the campaign to remove Mbeki gained "technical" substance. If Nicholson's ruling is correct in implicating the Executive in the manipulation of the judicial process, we then have both camps implicated in interfering with the judiciary.
Mud-slinging over allegations and counter-allegations on matters such as the Arms deal, racketeering, and the Selebi affair, can only be interpreted as a political battle that uses state institutions and government structures as weapon. The actual result is the growing pessimism in the public about public institutions.
The pitfall of this loss of faith of the public in these institutions is that the politicians will detect this and begin to manipulate and distort these, knowing that the public is disinterested and therefore cannot express outrage.
The result of this would be the road to Yeats' Jerusalem.
Get published on News24 by sending your article, story or column to us
See who has had a say on News24.
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
- News24
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.