Mbeki+fight-back+slated,+Moshoeshoe+Monare,+Sibusiso+Ngalwa,+Sindy


=Mbeki 'fight back' slated =


 * Moshoeshoe Monare and Sibusiso Ngalwa, Sunday Independent, 10 February 2008**

//Zuma camp rattled by 'plot' to gain control of party lists, but it's just normal political lobbying say the president's supporters//

President Thabo Mbeki's supporters have been accused of planning a fight-back campaign, aiming to recapture the party's provincial structures, its party lists - and to publicly embarrass Jacob Zuma.

Two deputy ministers, a premier and a businessman - who spearheaded Mbeki's failed third-term campaign - are said to be conspiring to destabilise the current leadership's power base. They are Mluleki George, the deputy defence minister, Jabu Moleketi, the deputy finance minister, Mbhazima Shilowa, the Gauteng premier, and businessman Saki Macozoma.

George said he did "not know anything about any meeting" and Moleketi, Shilowa and Macozoma said they were furious about being dragged into such "gossip".

Gwede Mantashe, the ANC secretary-general, told The Sunday Independent that the party's new leadership was concerned about a faction that wanted to win "provincial conferences and party lists".

New executives are due to be elected at provincial conferences, while party lists will form the basis of who will be elected to parliament and the legislatures after next year's election.

On Friday, Zuma confirmed that he had "received information" about "people meeting and still discussing candidates [whom they preferred] before Limpopo", a reference to the ANC conference in Polokwane in December at which Zuma ousted Mbeki as party leader.

Asked if he was not being paranoid, Zuma said: "What will be wrong is if they perpetuate Limpopo [by saying] let's get rid of these people [who won in Limpopo]. Lobbying must be comradely and open."

He said he was aware that it was difficult for some to accept his victory in Polokwane.

An alliance leader close to Zuma said they had learned that there were plans to organise "unruly crowds" to boo and heckle the new ANC leader. It is a strategy previously employed by Zuma supporters who booed Mbeki and walked out of public gatherings while he was still ANC president.

The alliance leader - who refused to be named because "I am not an ANC spokesperson" - said the main aim of the Mbeki group was "to recapture power they lost in Polokwane".

This was indirectly confirmed by an MP aligned to the Mbeki camp, who declined to be named. He said there was nothing wrong with "defending our provinces that supported Mbeki. It is simply called lobbying."

"While they [the Zuma camp] are in charge of national [structures], we will be strong in the provinces. You will have semi-federalism. Power will now be decentralised. They accused Mbeki of centralising power. A sweet medicine to taste, isn't it? These provinces will be effective in influencing party lists," he said. The provinces the Mbeki group is accused of trying to defend - the Western Cape, North West, Limpopo and Eastern Cape - nominated Mbeki as president before the Polokwane conference.

Siphatho Handi, the Eastern Cape ANC secretary who supported Mbeki, confirmed that the province was working hard to increase its members, but as part of a general strategy to expand membership.

An Mpumalanga regional official said provincial dynamics were different from national issues. "People who supported Zuma nationally may not necessarily support provincial leaders sympathetic to him."

This was the reason Mbeki supporters were holding meetings, hoping they could sway provincial conferences.

Asked if this was not a legitimate lobbying strategy, similar to the one employed by Zuma's supporters before the Polokwane conference, Mantashe said: "The difference is if the same group meet again after Polokwane, there is something wrong.

"You can't institutionalise factionalism. Any lobbying that is divisive [is seriously worrying]. We are trying to undo the damage of the run-up to Polokwane."

Macozoma said that, besides the fact that he had been out of the country, "I believe it is not only normal but a requirement for ANC delegates to go back to the structures that sent them and report back".

He added: "It is also their right to report on the conference the way they saw and experienced it, as long as they do not seek to mislead ANC structures and members.

"Ultimately, it is the right of every citizen, ANC member or not, to associate with whomever they wish and discuss whatever they like, whenever they like. If such citizens, when they exercise that right, claim they are ANC structures, then the ANC must act to defend the integrity of the movement."

Moleketi said the claims of a plot were "absolutely ridiculous" and malicious, adding that those accusing him of being part of the meetings were "using this as a tactic to rally support during provincial conferences".


 * From: http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4247245**

=Sorry for speaking out of turn =


 * Sibusiso Ngalwa, Sunday Independent, 10 February 2008**

Nathi Mthethwa, the new ANC chief whip, has moved quickly, cracking his whip to force President Thabo Mbeki's chief campaigner and another MP to apologise for making comments that the ruling party regards as "incorrect and unauthorised".

Mluleki George, the deputy defence minister, duly apologised to the party for comments he made to a weekly newspaper.

George was quoted as saying that those who supported Mbeki in Polokwane were being "purged" by the new guard.

George is the second ANC representative to apologise in recent weeks for making comments that unsettled the party hierarchy.

MP George Lekgetho did likewise. He said "sorry" for telling a National Assembly arts and culture portfolio committee that he believed that prostitution should be legalised for the 2010 World Cup.

Mthethwa, a staunch Zuma supporter, replaced Isaac Mogase as the ruling party's chief whip in the National Assembly following the changing of the leadership guard at Polokwane. George denied that he was forced to apologise for his views.

He told The Sunday Independent that he had merely apologised for the "inconvenience" caused by the newspaper report on his remarks.

"I was misquoted. What I said and what was written in the newspapers were different. I explained to the chief whip that the newspaper completely distorted what I said. I apologised for the inconvenience caused by what was said in the newspaper."

But he refused to say what exactly he had told the newspaper, saying instead: "I don't want to raise this thing again … how did you get this? It's very strange."

Lekgetho apologised to "all women" for the way in which his comments about prostitution had been interpreted.

He reportedly said that legalising prostitution would help make the 2010 soccer tournament a success "because we hear of many rapes because people don't have access to them [women or prostitutes].

"If sex working is legalised, people would not do things in the dark. That would bring us tax and would improve the lives of those who are not working," he reportedly said. The disciplining of the two leaders follows a stern warning from Mthethwa a week ago that ill-discipline among the party's public representatives would not be tolerated.

The party's code of conduct - which gives clear guidelines on disciplinary measures - would be enforced if members failed to adhere to party discipline, Mthethwa said.

In his report to the party caucus this week, Mthethwa explained how his office intervened in a matter of political discipline involving "two caucus cadres".

He did not mention the individuals but told MPs that the intervention related to "comrades publicly expressing incorrect and unauthorised views impacting on the organisation.

"Both comrades apologised to the ANC and pledged not to repeat the same mistakes."

He said members of the ANC had the right to express themselves but urged them to "leave [it to] spokespersons to raise the views about our movement publicly".

"If we allow everybody to say anything we will be encouraging the highest level of disorder, anarchy," he said in his written report to the caucus.

On Friday night, Mthethwa refused to answer questions relating to the George furore.

"It's an internal matter. I'm not at liberty to talk about it. It was finished in the caucus of the ANC," he said.

Mthethwa would not explain why Lekgetho was forced to make a public apology and George was not.

An ANC MP said that the party did not want to be seen to be targeting Mbeki supporters, so George was not forced into making a public apology.


 * From: http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=4247049**

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