A similar downfall for Smuts and Mbeki

I FIND close similarities between the downfall of the prime minister of South Africa, the late Jan Smuts – the leading architect of the UN – and the former president Thabo Mbeki.

Smuts and Mbeki were dignified statesmen, respected and poplar in international politics. They rubbed shoulders with foreign leaders in world capitals.

However, Smuts was painted as a leader who achieved international prestige at the expense of his own people, a politician more familiar with world crisis than the crisis in his own backyard.

Mbeki’s international involvements were praiseworthy, but his neglect of political developments at home are to blame for his downfall.

Unfortunately, Smuts and Mbeki’s fates were couched in similar terms. ISMAIL MOOLLA Umzinto