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ANC race: Mbeki plots tactic
02/12/2007 14:25 - (SA)
Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki may have slipped behind in the race for the leadership of the ANC but is in no mood to give his arch rival Jacob Zuma a clear run to the finishing line.
After a week that saw Zuma win the backing of five of the party's nine provincial branches, the women's and youth leagues, Mbeki could have been forgiven for pulling up to avoid risking humiliation at an ANC elective conference in the northern Limpopo province in two weeks.
Instead, Mbeki showed he is prepared to press on to the bitter end to avoid becoming a lame duck in his last two years as head of state.
"If the members of the ANC nominate me for the position of (party) president, I have got to respect that," the incumbent told the public broadcaster SABC in a radio interview.
And in the ANC's weekly newsletter he spoke for the first time about Zuma's ambitions to become president and the qualities needed to lead the ruling party which traditionally frowns on formal campaigning.
His recent renunciations of tribalism, populism and opportunism were bound to be interpreted as an attack on Zuma, said Mbeki, while insisting they were not.
Zuma, whose trademark song translates into "Bring me my machine gun" and whose supporters wear T-shirts reading "100 percent Zuluboy", was dismissed by Mbeki as deputy head of state in 2005 after his financial advisor was jailed for fraud.
He kept his job as ANC deputy leader, but risks being charged with corruption himself after losing an appeal against the legality of a series of search warrants.
"Whatever the circumstances inside and outside its ranks, at any particular moment, the ANC must defend its principles and values, without any hesitation or equivocation," wrote Mbeki.
Conspiracy
The Mail and Guardian weekly said Mbeki was "bearing his knuckles" and quoted one of his chief lieutenants, ANC chairman Mosiuoa Lekota, as vowing to counter Zuma's claims that he was the subject of a mass conspiracy.
The "truth must come out" about Zuma because "we are not prepared to sacrifice the ANC for the sake of one man," said Lekota.
DA leader Helen Zille joined the anti-Zuma chorus on Friday, saying South Africa's battle against Aids would suffer under his leadership.
Zuma, 65, was cleared of rape in a dramatic trial two years ago, but admitted having had unprotected sex with the HIV-positive woman half his age. He headed the National Aids Council at the time.
"It is very unlikely that we can expect resolute leadership on the HIV/AIDS battle from a man who sets such a poor example," said Zille.
Like Mbeki, Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu refrained from a direct attack on Zuma, but his message similarly required little reading between the lines.
"Those who are electing the president of the ANC should not elect somebody of whom we will be ashamed," he told AFP on Thursday.
Tutu said there was nothing wrong with Mbeki - who must stand down as president of the country in 2009 - seeking a third term as party leader since the ANC's constitution allowed it.
But he underlined the need for "fresh minds and fresh ideas", saying the country's constitution was sensible in limiting leadership terms to two.
Zuma, meanwhile, has been keeping his head down on an overseas tour, telling expatriate businessmen in London the party will rally behind whoever is leader.
"I can guarantee you that come Limpopo whoever is going to be elected as the president that the ANC will be united behind that leader," he said.
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