Outrage!

Our main picture today is of ANC Deputy Secretary-General Thandi Modise. Following after the image of ANC National Chairperson Baleka Mbete, it highlights the fact that the ANC National Executive Committee is now 50% women. This NEC is now going to have to call President Thabo Mbeki to order, or failing that to require him, as a deployed member of the ANC, to relinquish his position.

This much is clear from the linked items below. They begin with three very outspoken statements released yesterday by the SACP, COSATU, and the YCL. The fourth item is the front-page “splash” from today’s Johannesburg Sunday Times, which also records remarks of ANCYL President Fikile Mbalula and others.

Even if the removal of Thabo Mbeki from his deployed position in national government is avoided, and a forced modus vivendi worked out between the two centres of power from now until the scheduled date of the next general election, everything has already changed. Mbeki’s repeated, underhand attempts to gain the advantage again since Polokwane have destroyed the possibility of trusting the man, forever.

These attempts culminated in a crude and flagrant act of abuse of the law by Mbeki, working through his pawn Mokotedi Mpshe, when on Friday an “indictment” was furtively pushed under the door of ANC President Jacob Zuma’s Forest Town home while he was away in KZN, without a hearing to fix dates or to arrange bail terms.

COSATU is calling all this a “constitutional crisis”. It is hard to see what is mean by that term in these circumstances. The constitution seems adequate to the task, and clear. The ANC was elected by proportional representation, on a list system, whereby Members of Parliament can be recalled and replaced at any time by the party to which they belong. The constitution therefore leaves the power to appoint MPs and through them, the President of the country, firmly in the hands of the majority party. This is currently the ANC, which secured 70% of the vote in the last general election.

The fact that this arrangement was shoved through in the last moments of the constitution-building process by Thabo Mbeki’s heavy handlanger, Essop Pahad, is merely one of the ironies of life. Of course it is not an ideal arrangement. Constituency members with tenure given by voters, and not by party, would be much better. But that point does not make a constitutional crisis. Such a crisis would only arise in present circumstances if the location of authority was unclear, or disputed, which is not the case. Authority rests with the ANC, whose President is Jacob Zuma. Jacob Zuma is senior to Thabo Mbeki in both the national constitution and in the ANC constitution. Mbeki must submit, or go. (See the picture of him, looking more than half crazy, from the Sunday Times, right.)

The fifth item is not unrelated. The Communist University ignored the Reverend Professor Barney Pityana’s diatribe in last week’s City Press up to now. But we are happy to publish today a fine rebuttal by Mxolisi Mlatha, kindly sent in by e-mail, as well as a splendidly-captioned letter (“Pityana should enrol in political education”) by Maboku Mangena from today’s City Press, plus the original Pityana tract, all in one document.

Finally: The ANC’s media releases should all arrive by e-mail to subscribers, but some can only be found on the ANC web site press release page. One press release that the previously CU missed announced that: “ANC Gauteng Province has come to the conclusion that there is no basis to institute any disciplinary process against Comrade Bob Mabaso. We now consider the matter closed. We hope Comrade Bob Mabaso will put it behind him and focus on the task of serving our movement. For more information contact Nkenke Kekana (ANC Gauteng PEC Head of Communications) on 082 900 0096. Comrade Bob Mabaso can be contacted on 082 302 8697”.

Will Bob Mabaso now be compensated for the loss of his positions and the distress caused by the complaint of sexual harassment and attempted rape lodged by Ms Nonqeba Mosunkutu?

Click on these links:

Recharging of ANC President Cde Jacob Zuma, SACP (950 words)

Continuing violation of Jacob Zuma’s human rights, COSATU (608 words)

Charges brought against ANC President Jacob Zuma, YCL (501 words)

Zuma Men Target Mbeki, Harper, Boyle, Malefane, S Times (933 words)

Response to Barney Pityana, Mxolisi Mlatha (1148 words, + Mangena letter + Pityana article)

COSATU’s New Year message for 2008 (1629 words)