Former president Thabo Mbeki's grave accusations against Jacob Zuma, his successor, have caused a great deal of controversy.
According to Mbeki, Zuma might have worked as an informant or spy for the apartheid regime while he was in Robben Island prison.
Reported in the Sunday World over the weekend, the claims emerged during a recently held ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting where Mbeki questioned Zuma’s incarceration on Robben Island.
Mbeki's latest remarks add another level of complexity to the already complicated relationship between the two former leaders of the ANC.
His remarks raised the possibility that Zuma worked with the apartheid government against his comrades.
Given Mbeki and Zuma's long-standing animosity, these comments have sparked intense discussion in ANC circles.
The origin of this animosity dates back to 2005 when Mbeki worsened the political division within the party by ousting Zuma from his post as deputy president amid accusations of fraud, corruption and money laundering in the Arms Deal.
“In the last NEC, President Mbeki accused Zuma, saying his imprisonment was not recorded for the 10 years he served in Robben Island. He was saying nobody knows about the trial Zuma allegedly attended and records thereof do not exist,” said a member of the NEC.
Zuma's presidency continues to be one of the most controversial points in South Africa's post-apartheid history, as he is facing multiple legal actions against him.
He has been accused of corruption and using state money for his personal benefit, which became the subject of the Zondo Commission into State Capture.
Zuma is now the leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
Speaking to IOL, MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela was reluctant to comment, saying he would end up “being personal”.
Ndhlela said Mbeki was an attention-seeker who never even went to Robben Island, yet he is called a freedom fighter.
“If someone like the late comrade Chris Hani wrote a letter that Mbeki must not lead, then it says a lot about him. He is just an opportunist,” he said.
Later on he told the Star newspaper: “Needless to say, Thabo’s 2005 Polokwane bitterness and lies is rearing its head again. But we must ask, why did he wait until Zuma left the ANC and it’s NEC before starting rumours about his struggle credentials?”
“He has had ample opportunity to raise his lies in Zuma’s presence. Mbeki abandoned the ANC for ten years and now returns to destroy it further than he did when he demanded a third term as president. Where was he when the real freedom fighters faced the full might of the security branch?
“How did his wife, in a newly gotten democracy, become so incredibly rich? Who were the secret benefactors that paid for his education in London? And will he finally tell the nation about his sinister relationship with Craig Williamson?”
“President Zuma is ready to publicly challenge his lies; he must say the time and place.”
According to the Sunday World, an ANC member cited a recent speech made by Zuma outside the court in Durban during the appearance of his daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla as a crucial illustration of his unintentional admission.
He reportedly told the gathering that he was sentenced to 10 years and six months imprisonment without setting foot in court.
Another NEC member said Mbeki told the meeting that it was suspicious because there was no trial and conviction, adding that Zuma was placed by the enemy forces to infiltrate the ANC and compromise its leaders.
However, others believed that Mbeki was just bitter, claiming the whole thing started in 2007 after he lost to Zuma in Polokwane.
An NEC member in favour of Zuma said, “President Mbeki is a conspiracy theorist who has a problem with President Zuma. His argument about missing records is narrow because there are a lot of missing records for things that happened during apartheid.”
In an attempt to defend Zuma, MKP members said Mbeki was just jealous of Zuma.
MKP Head of Presidency, Magasela Mzobe, said on X: “At this rate, President Mbeki will soon tell us that President Zuma was never in exile, instead, he was on an extended holiday.”
“Polokwane Conference emotionally and intellectually damaged President Mbeki; he has never forgiven Nxamalala for being democratically elected by ANC branches over him. I also suspect TM is envious of President Zuma and the MK Party for achieving in 2024 general elections what COPE couldn’t achieve in 2009.”
Meanwhile, South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi explained on X: “The story I learned was that [former President Nelson] Tata Mandela returned from a meeting with Neil Barnard, the chief of intelligence during the apartheid era. He informed the National Executive Committee (NEC) that if he were to share the list identifying the spies of the apartheid regime within the ANC, it would lead to the destruction of the movement altogether.”
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
IOL Politics