PRETORIA, South Africa--The government of South African president Thabo Mbeki has alleged that there is a plot against him from within the governing African National Congress.
In an April 24 television interview Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete said three prominent ANC members--Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale, and Mathews Phosa--were being investigated by the police, accused of "dispensing misinformation about the president" with a view to ousting him. Tshwete offered no evidence. In another interview broadcast the same evening, Mbeki, who is also president of the ANC, lent weight to the conspiracy claim.
The allegations came three days before Freedom Day, a holiday celebrating the country's first democratic, nonracial elections in 1994. They followed an extraordinary public declaration earlier in April by Jacob Zuma, the South African and ANC deputy president, who said that he had no ambitions for the presidency of the ANC.
Ramaphosa is a member of the ANC National Executive Committee and its former secretary general. Both Sexwale and Phosa have served as provincial premiers for the ANC and previously were members of the National Executive Committee. All three, who today are wealthy businessmen, denied any involvement in plotting.
Tshwete also said there was a "whispering campaign" attributing to Mbeki responsibility for the 1993 assassination of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani, and that this might trigger violent action towards the president. Two rightists, Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus, are serving prison terms for the murder.
These developments come ahead of nine provincial ANC conferences taking place this year. These meetings will lead up to a national conference of the organization in 2002 where, among other things, leadership elections will take place.
Much of the big-business press here saw the developments as an effort by Mbeki to assure there will be no challenge to his position at next year's ANC conference. Some newspapers have cited the existence of a pamphlet, apparently produced by ANC members, arguing for "one president, one term."
An ANC statement backing Tshwete said the organization was "poised to accelerate the pace of...transformation" of the country. As a result, "it has also attracted the attention of those forces resistant to such change.... Among the arsenal of weaponry long employed by those opposed to democratic change is the projection and encouragement of leadership struggles within the ANC to sow confusion and division."
The Congress of South African Trade Unions said in a statement that it "would welcome the investigation of the police into genuine threats to our leadership, but rejects their involvement in normal internal political events." The union federation, which is allied to the ANC, also said, "It is highly irresponsible to announce the names of people subject to investigations, long before any final conclusions have been reached. This violates the due process of law and can harm the security of the individuals involved. Furthermore, it aggravates the spread of rumors and fear."