ANC to seek an audience with Mbeki over the Phala Phala letter

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the party's officials will discuss former president Thabo Mbeki's scathing letter on how its members have conducted themselves in parliament.

Mbalula confirmed the letter came from Mbeki, adding that they would request to meet the former president.

In the letter to ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile dated March 29, Mbeki said the party behaved as if it had something to hide when it came to the Phala Phala scandal.

Mbeki said the ANC in parliament had used its majority to block the establishment of a Multi-Party Committee (MPC) to investigate if President Cyril Ramaphosa had a case to answer to as per the findings of the panel report appointed by parliament to look into the allegations.

Once completed with its probe, the MPC would have recommended that Ramaphosa be impeached or not.

However, Mbeki pointed out that blocking this gave the impression that the ANC had something to hide.

“The way we voted on December 13 2022 to block the process of the formation of an MPC communicated the unequivocal statement to the masses that we do not want parliament to seek and gain a deeper and comprehensive understanding of the Phala Phala matter.

“In other words, the way we acted was as if we had something to hide,” Mbeki wrote.

Mbalula, who gave a briefing at Luthuli House on Thursday, said he found it regrettable that Mbeki's letter had been leaked.

“The national officials will discuss the letter and will seek an audience with the former president. It is only then that the ANC will give a comment on the letter and discuss its contents. This is not the first letter, there are a number of letters that former presidents have written. We don’t intend to run a political organisation through letters, political matters must be ventilated,” he said.

Mbalula added that he has sent an email to all national executive committee members instructing them not to publicly respond to Mbeki because the party did not need a scenario where current leaders are seen to be publicly attacking a former president.

Mbeki, who has been vocal about the Phala Phala scandal, even likening it to “money laundering”, blasted the ANC's decision to veto the establishment of the Parliamentary Multi-Party Ad-hoc Committee (PMPAC) to investigate various allegations against Eskom, including corruption, sabotage and the existence of criminal cartels.

Earlier this month, the party again rejected a proposal by the DA to set up the PMPAC to investigate the allegations of fraud, corruption and sabotage at the state-owned power utility made by former CEO André de Ruyter and contained in intelligence reports.

Mbeki continues: “It will have come across to this public as very strange and disturbing that when a proposal was made that parliament should undertake such a focused investigation into the alleged criminality at Eskom, we promptly voted against an eminently correct proposal.

“Thereby, inadvertently, we have conceded more time and space to the criminality at Eskom to continue with its disastrous consequences,” Mbeki wrote.

He compared the ANC’s actions now to those it took when the party supported former president Jacob Zuma in the Nkandla saga. These included rejecting motions of no confidence against Zuma.

With its declining electoral support, Mbeki said this would cost the ANC ahead of the 2024 general election.

nkosin@sowetan.co.za