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Is Mbeki losing power?
08/02/2008 21:09 - (SA)
Cape Town - The festive tone that once
marked South African President Thabo Mbeki's state-of-the-nation
speeches was absent when he outlined his priorities for 2008 on
Friday, two months after losing control of his ruling party.
There was less cheering, singing and dancing as Mbeki's
motorcade pulled up to the ornate parliament buildings in Cape
Town where he delivered the address. The African drums that
often greet his arrival beat faintly.
Mbeki was addressing parliamentarians for the first time
since losing the leadership of the African National Congress in
December to rival Jacob Zuma. Mbeki spoke in a subdued tone,
echoing the mood of many South Africans.
The country has been roiled by weeks of rolling power cuts
that have darkened millions of homes, brought industry to a near
standstill and stoked investor fears of a slowdown in Africa's
largest economy.
Sober event
"I certainly have the impression that it was a sober event.
There wasn't that tone of self-congratulation we've seen in
previous speeches," said Susan Booysen, a political analyst at
South Africa's Witwatersrand University.
"It is certainly another sign of a loss of power and another
phase of it," Booysen said.
Late last year Mbeki suffered the worst political defeat of
his career at the hands of Zuma, who was overwhelmingly elected
as ANC president at a party congress.
"Everything went down this year, so it's a lot of change and
there is a more subdued atmosphere," said James Masango, a
member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance, the country's
main opposition party.
Business Against Crime reacted positively to the address.
It said it welcomed Mbeki's announcement that the country's criminal justice system needed to be revamped.
Criminal justice system revamp
In a statement released late on Friday, Business Against Crime chief executive Siphiwe Nzimande said revamping the criminal justice system was critical.
"The president has acknowledged that society believes that we are at a crosswinds at this particular moment in our history, where, the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, and government's capacity to defend democratic rights are in question, while our National Commissioner (Jackie Selebi) is on leave and our National Director of Public Prosecutions (Vusi Pikoli) has been suspended."
He said he was "heartened" that Mbeki had "provided the nation with a categorical and renewed commitment to ensuring that government meets its constitutional mandate to protect citizens against crime by intensifying the fight against crime and by stepping up the initiative to improve the management and efficiency of the law enforcement agencies."
Referring to the Directorate of Special Operations (Scorpions), he said: "We believe it is important that the current levels of uncertainty with regard to this structure need to be dealt with decisively in order to end low morale, while not compromising the fight against organised crime".
Meanwhile, Cosatu had some concerns about the State of the Nation address, saying Mbeki had done very little to guarantee job security.
"We note with concern that the president did not discuss job security in the context of this energy crisis, to reassure the millions of workers who remain uncertain about their job security during this period," the labour federation said in a statement.
Electricity warning
Mbeki's warning that electricity would no longer be a cheap commodity was also a source of concern.
But it also said it was impressed with the manner in which Mbeki had set out key challenges in his speech.
On the other hand, the South African Communist Party welcomed "the main thrust" of President Thabo Mbeki's address but it did not agree with Mbeki on what needed to be done for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.
A statement released by spokesperson Malesela Maleka said Mbeki "should be commended for the work that he has devoted to bringing together the negotiating teams of the ZANU-PF ruling party and the MDC opposition, and in securing agreements.
"However, we regret to say that we cannot agree with the President when he says that all that now remains to be done are 'procedural matters,' that is, the implementation of the agreements.
"Considering that the election date has been unilaterally declared by the Zimbabwean government for the end of March, the implementation of key constitutional, media and law and order amendments directly related to the possibility of holding reasonably free and fair elections can hardly be considered merely 'procedural'."
However, the party welcomed the announcement of the "equalising of the pensionable age to 60 which will impact on some 500 000 people.
- Reuters
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