‘This is not how our Parliament should be’
THE OFFICE of the Speaker of Parliament has an unobstructed and close-up view of the President’s Cape Town office, Tuynhuis. From her desk, Baleka Mbete can look at Tuynhuis daily and contemplate what she would do if she occupied that position. But Mbete, who is also national chair of the ruling ANC, claims she has no such ambitions – at least for the moment.
Interviewed this week, with Tuynhuis providing a backdrop through huge glass windows, Mbete said she “would not be trapped into answering that question” when asked about her presidential ambitions.
“This is a question that means we will be reported to say things that we have never said. I am not willing to answer. It is only when the ANC opens that question up, that we can all feel free to feel or say anything along those lines.”
Which, if one has to read between lines, means “talk to me again next year when the ANC elective processes are under way”.
Her name has been mentioned as one of the people who could possibly take over from Jacob Zuma as president of the ANC, along with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and AU Commission Chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Mbete has reason to be circumspect because it is considered almost taboo in ANC circles to be ambitious or to speak publicly about one’s ambitions. When one interviews ANC politicians, they normally talk about being “deployed” by the organisation or “following the will of the branches”.
Asked whether it was not logical for her, having already been deputy president of the country, to aspire towards the number one position, she simply said: “We don’t do that.”
As a former general secretary of the ANC Women’s League, Mbete does not feel that the talk about the ANC possibly electing a woman president is “a big thing”.
“The ANC has always had opportunities through the ages, from its founding, because it had people of the calibre of Charlotte Maxeke, and over the years there have been many great women, like Ma (Albertina) Sisulu who presided over the UDF.
“But it is the culture. It is what people have been exposed to and what they have been socialised to accept as the norm. I don’t see what the big deal is, because women are playing a role all over the place now. They are mayors, they are premiers, they are speakers.
“It is just a matter of the culture and of the moment arriving where, indeed, through the normal mechanisms of the branches, the right decisions will be taken. It’s a matter that then happens at that point,” said Mbete.
Asked what qualities the president of the ANC should have, she said that he or she should be an “ANC cadre through and through”.
“It is important, because I believe in the correctness of the historical mandate that the ANC has been given as leader of society, that it has to be an ANC cadre through and through. The rest will follow.
“If indeed, you are truly steeped in the traditions, history, policies, understanding of the culture of the ANC, then you are a true South African. That’s what you need for a president of the country.
“The values, the way you conduct yourself, must be informed by that, and therefore it should be a person who respects people, who respects everything about prioritising the needs of our people.”
Asked if she had those qualities, Mbete laughed and said: “No, I’m not saying I have those qualities.”
Mbete was more comfortable talking about Parliament and was in a surprisingly jovial mood when I interviewed her on Wednesday morning, after another day of drama in Parliament when the EFF and other opposition parties once again tried to prevent the President from speaking.
Mbete feels it is unfair on the part of opposition parties to accuse her of protecting the President, while the President has also accused her of not protecting him adequately.
“I am maintaining order to the best of my ability and so do other presiding officers. It is not an easy thing. While the opposition feels that I should be, from the chair, part of their political games, the executive, in particular the President, are far from happy. As far as they are concerned, we should just in the first five minutes chuck out whoever in the opposition are targeting them.
“It is a very difficult position to be in. The President once told me that if he was the presiding officer, he would deal with the EFF within the first five minutes. I just said, ‘ President, believe me, you don’t want to be a presiding officer.’ That’s all I could say to him, because it is difficult to explain to a person who is not in that chair. It is easier said than done.
“They say I protect the President. The President is very unconvinced that I am protecting him. So I guess I will die in between the two knobkieries.”
This is the second time that Mbete has occupied the Speaker’s chair in the National Assembly. She was Speaker from 2004 to 2008 before becoming Deputy President to Kgalema Motlanthe after the recall of Thabo Mbeki.
After this, she worked in Luthuli House and returned to Parliament after the elections in 2014.
Mbete admits that this time has been very different and difficult.
“When people look into Parliament, they just feel that this can’t be our Parliament. Indeed, it should not be, but it takes a lot more than our wishes, whether we are feeling amused by the conduct. Some people think it is a big joke and that it makes Parliament interesting. I don’t believe so. I actually believe that it does harm.