WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-12-03 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
[I think it is excellent that both are pushing so hard because it is making the battle more intense. In Zimbabwe you see a battle between the Left and the Far Left. The same is occuring here. I like it. Jan]
By Angela Quintal, Jovial Rantao and Moshoeshoe Monare
President Thabo Mbeki has not ruled out an early national election if he loses the presidency of the ANC to Jacob Zuma in Limpopo in two weeks’ time.
This means he could retire as the country’s president before his term ends in 2009, if ANC members reject him as leader of the party at the contentious national conference.
In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Independent, Mbeki brushed aside concerns that he would become a lame-duck president in Pretoria under the hostile eye of new leadership in Luthuli House, the ANC’s Johannesburg headquarters.
He made it clear that, since 1994, the government had implemented ANC policy and there was no disjuncture between the two.
The left, which supports Jacob Zuma, the ANC deputy president, as Mbeki’s successor, has already indicated that it would place Mbeki under immense pressure, micromanaging his government.
Some have mooted an early national election while others speak of a vote of no confidence in parliament, threats that Mbeki’s main lobbyist, Mluleki George, has dismissed as rubbish.
Zuma told a rally on June 16 that power should not lie in the state house but with the people, saying the ANC should be the centre of power. His supporters are vehemently against two centres of power, even though Mbeki was president of the ANC while Nelson Mandela was head of state between 1997 and 1999.
Asked about an early election, Mbeki said: “I have not thought about that one. We haven’t got there yet. I don’t know. It’s possible, it’s possible, yes indeed.”
Pressed on the circumstances that would lead him to call an early election, he added: “It’s a matter that needs to be discussed by the ANC. It’s not a personal matter. The ANC is the government … so I think it would be the ANC that considers a matter like that.”
Mbeki’s supporters have expressed concern that a Zuma victory might lead to open conflict between the ANC and a Mbeki-led government, similar to the situation in the Western Cape and Free State.
Mbhazima Shilowa, the Gauteng premier, reportedly said last week that if Mbeki had to run to the ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters for everything, “he is president in name only”.
But Mbeki dismissed this, saying the policies and programmes the government had pursued since 1994 were those of the ANC. The Polokwane conference would confirm decisions taken at this year’s policy conference.
“So whoever is in government would have to implement ANC policy and that is what would happen.
“I believe these policies remain correct, so it is critically important that, at all times, as members of the ANC, we defend those policy positions and don’t get them compromised … by leadership contests in the ANC.”
He said that, since 1994, the ANC had increased its majority and retained the confidence of the people and this should not be compromised by the leadership contest – nor should South Africa’s contribution on the continent.
“Whatever the ANC does in terms of leadership, we must not compromise that. This goes beyond the hope … of our own people domestically. We are talking about hundreds of millions more people on the African continent.”
He reiterated his determination to fight to the end as long as people want him, even though he stands accused of intentionally dividing the party by seeking a third term.
He spelt out his concerns about the ANC leadership race, as well as the careerism, negative campaigning and “commercialisation of the ANC” that has consumed the party he has led for the past decade.
Speaking freely as a member of the ANC, Mbeki said he was “bothered” about people jostling for positions at all costs.
“I will still insist on this. It makes me feel extremely uncomfortable to have people say ‘elect me for such a position’… We have never had a situation like that, where personal ambition would decide who the leaders of the ANC are.”
Referring to United States presidential campaigning as a prime example of this problem, Mbeki said if this was allowed in the ANC, only those with money would be elected.
“I do not think we should have an ANC leadership that is decided on the basis of what resources I have.”
Mbeki stressed that any tendency that entrenched personal ambition and allowed it to become a factor in deciding the leadership of the ANC was wrong: “It might be normal elsewhere, but I think in terms of the ANC it will introduce a culture and practice that I think will be extremely unhealthy.”
Asked whether he would have accepted nomination if Zuma had not made himself available, Mbeki said members’ wishes should be respected: “Now whether the membership of the ANC would make these nominations, if the deputy president was not standing, I don’t know that.”
With Mbeki’s supporters adopting a gloves-off approach as they seek to reverse last weekend’s setback, including attacks on Zuma and his allies, Mbeki has cautioned against “negative campaigns”.
“I think, basically, it’s necessary to avoid these negative campaigns. I don’t think it helps,” he said.