Mbeki lays into ANC and Mashatile

Former president Thabo Mbeki has delivered a scathing critique of ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile and the ANC’s parliamentary caucus, saying it is wrong for the party to use its majority in parliament to veto the establishment of multiparty committees (MPCs) to probe the forex scandal at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm and corruption at Eskom.

In a letter dated March 29 and addressed to Mashatile, the party’s public representative in parliament, Mbeki compared the ANC’s actions to it voting against several motions of no confidence against former president Jacob Zuma at the height of state capture. The authenticity of the letter has been verified by ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, who confirmed on Thursday that the party’s top seven officials, which include Ramaphosa, had received the letter.

Mbalula declined to comment on its contents, saying party officials would consider the letter and seek an audience with the former president before formulating an opinion.

“The issues that comrade Mbeki is raising are important for the discourse within society and our organisation. So we will engage with the former president on the matters that he has raised and once we have finished that engagement, we will make our view very clear in terms of the contents of the letter,” Mbalula told reporters.

The decisions by the party’s parliamentary caucus are an indication that the ANC has something to hide, Mbeki says in the letter, seen by Business Day, adding that the party doesn’t want parliament to gain a deeper understanding of the Phala Phala matter.

The actions of the caucus further entrench the narrative that the party is shielding corruption, further driving a wedge between the ANC and its supporters.

“I would presume that as ANC members, we would assume that our president would not have done anything impeachable,” Mbeki says. “The puzzle is — why then did we stop an MPC being formed we would be convinced would exactly establish that our president has not done anything impeachable? Or are we saying that we suspect he has done something impeachable and therefore decided that we must protect our president at all costs by ensuring that no MPC is formed?”’

Mbeki s withering critique of the party, which he served as leader for a decade until 2007, follows comments earlier in March at an event at Unisa where he said the theft of money at Ramaphosa’s farm raises serious concerns about money laundering.

It also comes as the ANC races to recast itself as a suitable steward of governance before the 2024 national elections and claw back a decline in support that several polls indicate could dip below 50% for the first time.

Mbeki has accused the ANC in the legislative arm of the state of abandoning its constitutional obligations to provide oversight of the executive when the caucus twice — in December 2022 and in March — rejected DA proposals to set up a dedicated ad hoc committee to investigate allegations related to the theft of funds at Ramaphosa’s farm.

That came after the release of a parliamentary report into the matter, which made adverse findings against the president, and the Constitutional Court’s rejection of his application for direct access to the apex court to overturn the findings of the report.

The ANC’s thwarting of the establishment of MPCs to investigate Phala Phala and Eskom is against the prescripts of the constitution, which bars parties from using their majority to block the National Assembly from providing oversight to the executive, he says.

In March, the party rejected a proposal by the DA to set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations of fraud, corruption and sabotage at Eskom made by former CEO André de Ruyter and contained in intelligence reports.