If a leader is wrong, they protect them at all costs: Holomisa backs Mbeki's criticism of ANC

Bantu Holomisa has criticised ANC MPs, describing them as “yo-yos” used to protect members when they prevented National Assembly investigations into the Phala Phala matter and Eskom “corruption”.

Holomisa was speaking to TimesLIVE after a controversial letter from Thabo Mbeki to Deputy President Paul Mashatile. In it, the former president voiced his concern about the party’s parliamentary caucus blocking investigations into the burglary at President Cyril Ramaphosa's farm and “malfeasance” at the power utility.

Mbeki said MPs voting against a multiparty committee was not in the interest of transparency and left room for suspicion.

Holomisa said his letter would not change anything.

“What the ANC caucus is doing is what it has done since the [Jacob] Zuma years. It has created the wrong precedent, where if its leader is wrong, they protect them at all costs. They can just be toyed like yo-yos.”   

The UDM leader said “blocking” investigations into ANC wrongdoing would have not happened during the tenures of former presidents Nelson Mandela, Kgalema Motlanthe or Mbeki.    

“The corruption is eating into the body politic of the ANC like a cancerous tumour.”   

WHAT DID MBEKI SAY IN HIS LETTER?

In his 17-page letter, Mbeki wrote:

“On 23 March 2023, we voted against the appointment of a parliament multiparty ad hoc committee (PMPAC) to investigate various matters at Eskom, including the reported corruption, sabotage and existence of criminal cartels within the company.   

“It was very wrong that we took a decision to veto the initiation of a parliamentary process specifically focused on investigating the criminal activities at Eskom, which would have signified the beginning of the process to unmask the counterrevolution which may be responsible for many problems at Eskom, consistent with what it tried to do at Sars.”   

On the Phala Phala saga he wrote:

“I would presume that as ANC members we would assume that our president would not do and has not done anything impeachable. The puzzle is why then did we stop an MPC (multiparty committee) being formed if we were convinced it would establish that our president has not done anything impeachable.

“Or are we saying that we suspect or know that he has done something impeachable and therefore decided that we must protect our president at all costs by ensuring that no MPC is formed?”

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the party’s leadership would meet Mbeki to discuss the letter.   

“The issues that comrade Mbeki is raising are important for the discourse within society and our organisation. So we will engage with the former president on the matters that he has raised and once we have finished that engagement, we will make our view very clear in terms of the contents of the letter,” he said.   

WILL IT DENT THE ANC'S PROSPECTS IN THE 2023 ELECTIONS?

Political analyst Prof Tinyiko Maluleke said the Phala Phala report remained a thorny issue for Ramaphosa.

“Phala Phala, Eskom and all these kinds of issues will definitely feature in the minds of voters in 2024, but I do not think Mbeki’s letter itself will affect the way people vote.

“I think Phala Phala might become a legitimate concern for voters, but much more than that, it will become a weapon for opposition parties.

“However, I have also seen opposition parties fail to make gain out of the ANC’s mistakes before. Whether they will make gain this time around we will have to wait and see.” 

Here is how some reacted on social media: