Zuma+camp+condemns+Mo,+Mthembu,+de+Boer,+de+Lange,+The+Star



=Zuma camp condemns Mo=


 * Bongani Mthembu, Heinz de Boer and Deon de Lange, The Star, 10 December 2007**

//Shaik warned after 'insensitive' comments about Trevor Manuel//

The Jacob Zuma camp has attacked a statement by Mo Shaik casting doubt on Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's ability to serve in a Zuma cabinet.

Don Mkhwanazi, of the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, described the comment as "insensitive", adding that it portrayed Zuma as someone who would listen to individuals instead of the ANC before making decisions.

"Comrade Shaik must not talk about those things. He knows how things are done in the ANC," said Mkhwanazi. The trust was behind fundraising for Zuma during his rape trial last year. In an interview with the Mail & Guardian on Friday, Shaik said he saw a "great role" for Manuel in the future, but questioned whether he had the "flexibility of mind" to adapt to a more implementation-oriented economic policy.

"When you have been part of the macro-economic stabilisation programme, do you have the right mindset for a period of heightened implementation?" Shaik pondered.

Only the day before, Zuma had been telling an international audience there would be no change in economic policy.

In a scathing response, Manuel pointed out that Shaik held no leadership position in the ANC and had not been nominated for one of the 60 positions on the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) to be elected in Polokwane this weekend.

"Your conduct is certainly not something in the tradition of the ANC. It is obvious you have no intention of becoming part of any elected collective within the organisation, yet you arrogate to yourself the role of determinant," Manuel wrote in an open letter to Shaik.

Manuel questioned where the former ANC intelligence operative got off proposing a possible job for him in a Zuma administration.

Approached for a reply yesterday, Shaik said only: "I love Trevor Manuel very much".

Political analyst Protas Madlala said the "arrogant" Shaik's comments would harm Zuma's campaign.

"You do not say that to other people. His comments make us doubt that people like him genuinely support Zuma or they just do it for their own personal gains. This does not bode well for Zuma's campaign. It demonises him," he said.

Manuel's point that Shaik had no mandate to speak on behalf of the ANC or its deputy president was reinforced by ANC spokesperson Tiyani Rikhotso.

Although hesitant to wade into the row, Rikhotso defended the minister's right of reply yesterday and emphasised that "Shaik's comments are his personal views".

The ANC's provincial structures have meanwhile subtly distanced themselves from Shaik's interview, saying it created untrue perceptions of the party's internal workings.

Provincial secretary Senzo Mchunu said while the ANC respected Shaik's right to speak to the media, "comrades" were being asked not to make speculative comments.

"Mo Shaik was strictly speaking for himself without any consultation.

"He is not the spokesperson for Jacob Zuma and there should be no association between him and the thinking of the ANC deputy president," Mchunu said.


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4167428**

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