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Mbeki: What the SABC held back
18/07/2007 23:37 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The unauthorised documentary on President Thabo Mbeki charts his rise to power and is interspersed with insights into his character.
Although quite unremarkable, the most controversial element of the 24-minute film is perhaps the suggestion during the voice-over commentary that he may have had a hand in SA Communist Party general secretary Chris Hani's assassination in 1993.
It begins on an ominous note, with a quote from former President Nelson Mandela in 1997, warning his successor that he could be tempted to use his powerful position to: "...settle scores with detractors, marginalise them, get rid of them..."
Screened for the first time to an audience of 200 in Johannesburg on Wednesday night, the documentary states that the president's "finest hour" was his election, unopposed, to the head of the ANC in Mafikeng in 1997. 'Gucci revolutionary'
Radio journalist Redi Direko, Treatment Action Campaign leader Zackie Achmat, former Rand Daily Mail editor Alistair Sparks, Mbeki's mother Epainette, and City Press editor Mathatha Tsedu all share their opinions of the man for the camera.
Tsedu remembers Mbeki as "Gucci revolutionary" with his trademark pipe and suit, the antithesis of Hani, who was "out there in fatigues". The film initially draws comparisons between the two men - both born in the Transkei in 1942, both went into exile in 1962 - before abruptly breaking with this line of thought. The voice-over states: "By 1990 Mbeki had become everything Chris Hani feared."
Comments on Mbeki's efforts at reconciliation drew laughs from the audience: "He charmed his opponents. He spoke investment to the capitalists... and non-racialism to the whites." 'Deal-making'
The film then questions whether his "deal-making" was selling out his comrades. SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande gives a brief criticism, accompanied by
finger-wagging - to the amusement of the viewers - of Mbeki's shift away from the left of the political spectrum.
Mention is made of his military training in the former Soviet Union and his studies in England.
Of the latter, Achmat says: "His vision of office was formed at an English university, now he's trying to escape from this vision."
Sparks notes that Mbeki was perhaps less like the English and more "like the rebellious Irish".
He was raised in a Communist household, and devoured his father's Marxist literature, the viewer is told.
Sparks and Tsedu both share negative aspects of Mbeki's character. 'Streak of paranoia'
"He's convinced he's right at all times. When you're not smart enough to understand what for him are obvious things, he has no time for you," comments Tsedu.
Says Sparks: "He has a streak of insecurity and paranoia."
Tsedu comments on his single-mindedness.
"When he's convinced of something, there's nothing that will stop him," he adds later.
Reference is also made to Mbeki's Aids denialism. His "hugely unpopular position" on the matter drew Mandela out of retirement.
Mbeki's reunion with his father Govan in 1989 after almost 25 years apart, portrays Mbeki senior as a cold, emotionally distant man.
"There's not a flicker of emotion, nothing," notes Sparks, recalling the moment the two men shook hands. Emotionally distant
The documentary delves briefly into the reason Mbeki could be considered by some emotionally distant and cold.
"I think he had an unhappy childhood," says Tsedu.
His parents may have emotionally separated themselves from him at an early age in anticipation of their going to prison.
Praise for Mbeki came from Achmat, who notes his project to modernise Africa. Listener's comments made on-air on radio 702 are also all glowing.
"They liked him," says Direko.
Mbeki's mother points to his softer side: "He's not a forward man... Actually he's very happy when he's taking a back seat."
- SAPA
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