Moeletsi Mbeki allegations 'baseless'
2011-07-27 22:25
Cape Town - The "allegations" made by political analyst and former president Thabo Mbeki's brother Moeletsi Mbeki about the ANC and President Jacob Zuma at the Cape Town Press Club are disappointing and baseless, the presidency said on Wednesday.
"Political analysts should challenge President Zuma on the work that government does and not resort to personal attacks which rather indicate deep-rooted bitterness," Zuma's spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement.
Addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Tuesday, Mbeki reportedly said Zuma did not have the will or the ability to steer South Africa out of its economic and political difficulties, and that the ANC was not the "future for us".
"The ANC is losing its voters. A few years ago it had 70% of the electorate and today it has 62%.
"Even [ANC Youth League president Julius] Malema - who finds it hard to do this kind of simple arithmetic - pointed out that Zuma is losing votes for the ANC," he said.
He also criticised Zuma for not taking action on Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report on the police’s dodgy office lease deal.
"We have to ask ourselves what is the future of SA. It is not the ANC any more. Like all liberation parties that have been in government, they are very corrupt and incompetent... which is what you see every day."
South Africa's future was grim under the ANC government because of its refusal to modernise the monetary system, or the labour force, to keep up with the times.
Until recently, the ANC had been headed by the leadership that came out of Fort Hare University in the 1940s.
"You do not have that calibre of leadership any more. You get the song-and-dance brigade like Malema and Zuma, who say they are providing leadership," Mbeki reportedly said.
Scourge of corruption
Maharaj said the high levels of awareness in the country about corruption were indicative of the seriousness with which this "scourge is treated".
Government played a leading role in raising this awareness through the actions of law enforcement agencies against corruption.
Zuma had directed the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate a number of national and provincial government departments, municipalities, and state-owned enterprises, which was an indication of zero tolerance against corruption, he said.
"Several other state agencies are also focusing on rooting out this scourge. Allegations that the president or government are soft on corruption are baseless and mischievous."
Regarding Madonsela's report on police buildings leases, the President had to follow due process.
"He cannot deal with such a report in a haphazard or ad-hoc manner. He will make his decisions or actions known once he has concluded the process.
"We have no idea what gives people who are not even close to the process the audacity to start proclaiming that the president will not act on the recommendations or findings of the report," Maharaj said.
Voice of the opposition
In another statement, ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu condemned as "disrespectful and disingenuous, the latest barrage of unfair criticism" of Zuma and the ANC-led government by Moeletsi Mbeki.
"With his political roots having been nurtured in the ANC, Moeletsi has chosen not only to betray noble principles and beliefs held by his late struggle icon father Govan Mbeki but has decided to embark on a role of being the voice of the opposition, instead of making a meaningful contribution within structures of the ANC and government in a quest to build a better country for all South Africans.
"We find Moeletsi's latest outburst, charging that 'the ANC is not the future for South Africa' and that the President was merely about 'song and dance', disingenuous and misinformed in the extreme, displaying characteristics of desperation to rubbish the ANC, its President and government," Mthembu said.
- SAPA