Mabuyane slams former presidents

Criticism of ANC, Ramaphosa by Zuma, Mbeki and Motlanthe unprecedented and uncalled for, says premier

Premier Oscar Mabuyane has slammed three former SA presidents who criticised the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa at the weekend, saying their utterances were destructive, “UN-ANC” and bordered on destroying the party.

Mabuyane was referring to criticism by Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma.

He was speaking to the media during his visit to the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital, which was running surgeries to fix cleft palates.

The three former presidents spoke at three separate events at the weekend and tore into the leadership of the ANC, the government and Ramaphosa.

Zuma went as far as labelling Ramaphosa a criminal during a scathing press conference held by his foundation in Johannesburg.

Mbeki also dug in, saying the ANC would have to hold a discussion on whether Ramaphosa should step aside if the three-member panel appointed by parliament to look into the alleged Phala Phala break-in cover-up found that he had a case to answer.

“To posture like that is very unfortunate, it’s really UNANC,” Mabuyane said.

“Actually it undermines the collective leadership responsibility that the ANC has.

“In the ANC these are all leaders, whether you are elected or not elected.

“It’s quite worrying. It’s a new culture that is being introduced by the most senior leadership we have seen.

“I don’t think it’s the right way. Yes, we have been grappling with this, having all these people who have been doing these things, people saying all sorts of things on social media as members of the ANC.

“So I don’t think at that level they should degenerate to that.”

He said he had seen presidents when they retired, including the late president Nelson Mandela, come in to advise the ANC, but had never witnessed anything similar to the criticism by the three.

“We have never seen this stampede, this sort of a public spat, it’s so unfortunate,” Mabuyane said.

“Yes, the ANC has challenges. Those challenges are not new, they are not for this current leadership, including the current president, [they are] challenges the ANC has been inheriting over years.

“So we should take collective responsibility to a certain extent to see how best are we finding a panacea to address these sorts of problems.

“I don’t think it is going to be the correct way what we have observed over the past 24 hours, it’s very unfortunate, actually destructive.”

He said the former presidents should appreciate that everyone was frustrated and that every member of the ANC, leaders and former leaders should be in the structures of the party to correct all the things they were talking about.

“This is where the ANC actually lives, this is where the ANC is active. We are not going to be active on TVS, on screens and all that, I don’t think it’s the right approach.”

He said he supported the ANC in Kwazulu-natal, which was the first to issue a statement against the criticism by the former presidents.

He said Ramaphosa had taken responsibility for issues directed at him and gone further to lead the renewal of the party.

The ANC should not allow for chaos in the lead-up to its national conference in December, he added.