Absent+Mbeki+forces+delay,+Angela+Quintal,+The+Star

The Star, Johannesburg, September 25, 2006 //Edition 1//
=Absent Mbeki forces delay of ANC meeting during crisis=


 * //Ruling party seeking answers after 'attack' on president by a former ally//**


 * Angela Quintal**

The ANC's top six officials will meet only next Monday, with President Thabo Mbeki under siege and the ruling party calling for unity and discipline amid the latest crisis to hit it.

This comes after one of Mbeki's former allies, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, reportedly told the ANC's Free State provincial general council (PGC) on Saturday that the president was the source of divisions in the ANC.

Mbeki was in New York last week addressing the United Nations General Assembly, and his trip to Ivory Coast today will again fuel perceptions that he is more interested in international matters than in what's happening at home.

A meeting of the ANC's top six officials today has been postponed until next week because of the Ivory Coast trip.

Once close to Mbeki, Ramatlhodi appears firmly in the Jacob Zuma camp and was at last week's Cosatu congress along with some of Zuma's key allies, including SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande.

The Star confirmed yesterday that Ramatlhodi delivered an angry address at the Free State gathering on Saturday, which was also addressed by ANC strategist and Mbeki ally Joel Netshitenzhe, in the context of a "festival of views and ideas" in the ruling party.

Ramatlhodi, a former Limpopo premier once tipped to succeed National Prosecuting Authority boss Bulelani Ngcuka, lost out on the job after he was investigated for alleged corruption by the Scorpions. He was never charged.

The Sunday Times reported yesterday that Ramatlhodi apparently told delegates that he had personally told Mbeki at a meeting of the ANC's national executive committee (NEC) that he was autocratic and dividing the party.

"He (Ramatlhodi) said big things," an ANC official confirmed yesterday.

Speaking in the context of the alleged abuse of state power, Ramatlhodi apparently drew comparisons between his own case and those of Free State leader Pat Matosa and former chief whip Tony Yengeni, as well as Zuma himself - all supposed victims of an alleged political conspiracy where state resources were allegedly abused.

Ramatlhodi also told delegates he "did not fear anybody" and was prepared to speak out.

Netshitenzhe's address apparently did not go down well with delegates at the Free State PGC, with some believing he had made veiled and unacceptable references about their icon, Zuma.

Netshitenzhe apparently referred to ANC leaders who, when they ran out of resources, went running to the party to be bailed out.

ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe, on the other hand, was "completely neutral", "giving us the politics of the ANC", the official said.

It is understood that Mbeki ally and head of the ANC presidency Smuts Ngonyama was looking for answers yesterday from Free State provincial leaders, as well as Ramatlhodi himself. Ngonyama was not available for comment.

In a statement issued yesterday, the ANC said it had noted media reports about Ramatlhodi's statements to the PGC.

It reaffirmed the position adopted by the party's NEC in November last year on the challenges facing the party, as well as Mbeki and Zuma's joint statement.

"This includes the paramount importance of the unity and cohesion of the ANC, and the reaffirmation by the NEC that, whatever its diversity, there is one ANC."

The ANC statement noted that the NEC had in November "unanimously rejected the notion that individuals are required to choose sides, on the basis of the absolutely false assertion that the president and deputy president are leading contending factions within the movement".


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3453288**

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