Who is Kgalema Motlanthe?
2008-09-23 09:44
Cape Town - People have seen Kgalema Motlanthe as
a possible presidential candidate for five years or more, ever since there
were fears that Jacob Zuma could be crippled by the fraud and corruption
charges being prepared against him.
Once he was elected as Zuma's deputy at Polokwane last December he was
canvassed so often as a likely candidate if Zuma disappeared into a legal
pothole, that he seemed to come to believe it himself.
Questioned in public on the subject, he declared he would rather be
scouting for new talent for Bafana-Bafana, but as Die Burger reported at the
time: "Few present believed him."
He was deployed to Parliament to serve in the Mbeki cabinet to act as a
bridge between the outgoing government and the one coming in. He was given
the job of minister in the presidency, and took over from deputy president
Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka in the task of leading the government's Parliamentary
business.
Although he nailed his colours to the star of Jacob Zuma, he has been
described as an independent thinker who is not afraid to speak his mind.
He
is a man of compromise, so when Ebrahim Rasool was fired by the new ANC, he
spotted a possible danger to the party in the Western Cape, and moved to
neutralise it by appointing Rasool to his staff.
This did not go down well with the firebrands in the Zuma camp, and he
has since been accused again of grooming himself to take over the
presidency.
Born in 1949, the youngest of 13 children, Motlanthe was early on
influenced by the revolutionary ideologies of the Black Consciousness
Movement of Steve Biko. He was detained by the apartheid government in 1977
at the age of 28, the year after the Soweto uprising.
In 1967 he had been detained for 11 months for pursuing the aims of the
liberation movement African National Congress. He was later sentenced to 10
years imprisonment on Robben Island.
Shortly after his release he followed Cyril Ramaphosa as secretary-
general of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). Ramaphosa became
secretary-general of the ANC but in 1997, disappointed by the succession of
Thabo Mbeki, Ramaphosa retired from politics. Kgalema was elected in his
place.
In last year's bitter ANC succession battle, Motlanthe featured on
the lists of both Mbeki and Zuma supporters for a position in the top six to
be elected at the party's conference in Polokwane.
His political style is ponderous, and he is not a charismatic speaker,
although he has a gently humorous turn of phrase, but is also known for his
lengthy speeches.
He has high regard for process and consultation, and his ten years as
secretary-general has given him unrivalled knowledge of the ANC way of doing
things and a useful idea of where many bodies are buried.
He also earned a reputation as a grassroots worker who visited the
various branches and kept in contact with ordinary rank and file members.
But in his report to the conference in Polokwane, he had to frankly admit
that the organisation he administered was not in a healthy state, and would
need much work before being ready to face the electorate.
He is seen as a peacemaker, and when Mbeki demanded that the ANC
executive discipline or axe deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge,
he said that he did not see any need for her to be disciplined as she was
not in breach of the ANC constitution.
Some controversy arose in his career when his name came up in
allegations that the ANC received financial aid from the Iraqi government
when the party found itself in a financial bind. - I-Net Bridge