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Lack of support puzzles Mbeki
05/12/2007 19:57 - (SA)
Cape Town - "Well, I don't know," President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday evening when asked why only four of South Africa's nine provinces had supported his nomination for ANC president.
Speaking during an interview broadcast live from Pretoria on SABC radio, he said party members were free to choose whoever they wanted to lead the party.
"Of course members should be perfectly entitled to conclude we would prefer such and such a person for such and such a position.
"I suppose the membership would look at various issues, various factors... or the progress that had been made in various areas."
He warned that members needed to accept the "consequences" of their choice.
"We really need to accept the consequences of our own affirmation of the democratic processes within the ANC," he said. Tripartite alliance
He did not elaborate further. Turning to the tripartite alliance, Mbeki said it was in no danger of coming unstuck.
He said the alliance - comprising the African National Congress, the Congress of SA Trade Unions and the SA Communist Party - had sprung from the "objective situation" in the country.
It was not the product of "clever people".
Asked if he was optimistic about the alliance sticking together, he replied: "Yes, I'm sure it will.
"I am quite convinced that the conditions that we face today still dictate the need for that co-operation. It (the alliance) wasn't the product of clever people... it's the objective situation we face in the country.
"This is why this alliance is many decades old; it has survived changes of leadership in all three organisations.
"The reason it's survived... is because the situation demands it. I am quite sure it will continue," Mbeki said.
- SAPA
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