No holding back as Mbeki takes on tough issues
FORMER president Thabo Mbeki has warned leaders and society to refrain from being driven by popular slogans that are not based on facts.
Speaking on Power FM on Thursday night‚ Mbeki said leaders had to think of the reality of the current situation and how they wanted to change it in the future.
The talk took place before an audience that included former finance minister Trevor Manuel‚ Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema and ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa.
“Avoid being driven by what appears to be popular opinion and sexist slogans. You have to look at the reality that you have to deal with,” Mbeki said.
“You must be able to justify the steps you are taking.”
He then took his time to challenge the use of the slogan “white monopoly capital”.
“You’ve got some people talking about white monopoly capital. What is that? It is an abuse of a phrase‚ a term‚ a concept which was used in scientific economic literature [and] which talked about monopoly capital‚” Mbeki said.
“Inevitably‚ a capitalist system is going to have concentration and centralisation of capital. Out of the thousand firms‚ you will ultimately end up with six. That is what is then called monopoly capital.
“Then somebody here somewhere adds the word white,” he said.
Mbeki also explained mistakes made by President Jacob Zuma’s administrat
“When we were in government‚ we have always had a strategic reserve. In case there is some emergency‚ somewhere there must be public funds which you can use to address an emergency. I read a couple of years back that they had raided the strategic reserve in order to pay salaries of civil servants and wiped it out‚” Mbeki said.
His host, Given Mukhari, asked if he had ever been called by government for any advice.
“No‚ they wouldn’t. They told me in 2008 that I was useless. I was not wanted‚” Mbeki replied. — DDC