ANC defends Ramaphosa’s absence from Mbeki meeting

The ANC has defended President Cyril Ramaphosa’s noshow at the marathon meeting between the party’s top brass and former president Thabo Mbeki at which the farmgate scandal was discussed, saying the president’s absence was due to scheduling clashes.

“There is nothing untoward to read into it. The president had other state-related engagements,” the party’s spokesperson, Mahlengi BhenguMotsiri, told Business Day.

Describing the Tuesday evening meeting as “robust and cordial”, Bhengu-Motsiri said the ANC officials who were present, including ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and deputy president Paul Mashatile, would give feedback on the meeting to the party’s national executive committee when it next meets.

The meeting, which took place at the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Tuesday, followed the former president’s withering criticism of the party’s parliamentary caucus, which used its majority in the legislative house to veto the establishment of multiparty committees to probe the foreign exchange scandal at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm and corruption at Eskom. In a letter, Mbeki suggested that the actions of the caucus further entrench the narrative that the party is shielding corruption, further driving a wedge between the ANC and its supporters.

The decisions by the party’s parliamentary caucus are an indication that the ANC has something to hide, Mbeki said in the letter, adding that the party does not want parliament to gain a deeper understanding of the Phala Phala matter.

Mbeki’s critique of the party, which he served as leader for a decade until 2007, follows comments earlier in March at an event at Unisa at which he said the theft of money at Ramaphosa’s farm raised serious concerns about money laundering.

“Amongst the key areas of discussion was the matter of constitutional democracy including the role of parliamentary oversight and how these need to be managed,” BhenguMotsiri added in an official statement on Wednesday.

“It is the considered view of the ANC that when all three arms of the state work in step with one another, any matter of national interest gets to be fully ventilated.

“The meeting reflected on the contents of former president Mbeki’s letter in a comradely and collegial spirit,” BhenguMotsiri said.

“The discussion was framed around organisational renewal and unity of the ANC.”

‘THERE IS NOTHING UNTOWARD TO READ INTO IT. THE PRESIDENT HAD OTHER STATE ENGAGEMENTS’