Mbeki 'necklacing' critics
2004-12-03 12:22
Cape Town - Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon on Friday said President Thabo Mbeki was practising a form of rhetorical "necklacing" in an effort to kill public criticism and suppress debate.
"It does not harm its victims physically, but has a similar effect in silencing dissent throughout society," he said in his weekly newsletter, published on the DA's South Africa Today website.
Mbeki refused to accept criticism of the African National Congress by those outside of it.
"He accuses internal critics of siding with the ANC's political opponents. And he twists and distorts other people's views beyond all recognition."
Leon said Mbeki, who on several occasions had used quotes from Mao Ze Dong in his own speeches, had adopted one of the former Chinese leader's favourite tactics of singling out individual dissenters for harsh public condemnation.
Referring to the president's written attack last week - in a weekly newsletter published on the ANC website - on Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Leon said Tutu was only his most recent target.
'Past victims'
"Past victims include journalist and Aids activist Charlene Smith; Anglo-American CEO Tony Trahar; Barloworld chief economist Dr Pieter Haasbroek; Financial Mail journalist Peter Honey; and many others as well.
"None of these people belongs on an 'enemies list'. They are among the most distinguished citizens of our nation."
The president had also singled out individual companies for public denunciation, such as Sasol; individual newspapers, such as the Sunday Times; foreign leaders, such as Commonwealth Secretary-General Donald MacKinnon; and international officials such as UNAids deputy director Kathleen Cravero.
"And although robust criticism of domestic political rivals is indeed a hallmark of democracy, President Mbeki often exceeds the bounds of acceptable rhetoric.
"This past March, President Mbeki accused IFP leader Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi of fighting for 'for white minority rule and privilege' by opposing economic sanctions and the armed struggle against apartheid - a complete distortion of history.
"In that same month, President Mbeki told an ANC rally that he would 'beat' his sister if she came home and told him that she was in love with Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, the leader of the African Christian Democratic Party.
"It is difficult to think of a single other democratic nation in which the head of state descends, with such dogged regularity, into public attacks on individual citizens. It is a form of intellectual or rhetorical 'necklacing'."
South Africa could not continue in the present vein, where those who criticised did so quietly and in private instead of raising their voices in public; where those who dared to speak their minds were vilified; and where ideas were not judged on their merits, but on the skin colour, ethnicity or political affiliation of the person advocating them.
- SAPA