It seems to me the ANC and President Mbeki are making heavy weather out of what should be a rather obvious and uncomplicated transition. Why are they being so secretive and why are they so focused on the National Assembly to drive this process?
I was rather surprised last night when President Thabo Mbeki announced yesterday [...]
Posts under ‘Succession Race’
Motlanthe to be (acting) President?
How can the ANC get rid of Mbeki?
Our friend kortbroek Malema, leader of the ANC Youth League, is quoted this morning as having said that the majority of ANC national executive committee members agree that President Thabo Mbeki must be removed from office. According to News24:
“We have approached individual members of the ANC NEC to ensure that the removal of Thabo Mbeki [...]
Mbeki: an out of touch, bewildered, denialist to the end
The (probably apocryphal) story is told that when Field Marshal Tito, President of the former Yugoslavia, was on his death bed, he heard the noise of thousands of voices outside his window and asked what was going on. “The people have come to say goodbye,” his aid is said to have replied. To which Tito [...]
On gender, ANC succession and hypocrisy
Blame it on Nkosizana Zuma. I was going to write something on the Constitutional Court judgment delivered earlier this week on the Constitutionality of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA), until I heard the performance of our foreign minister on the After Eight Debate on SAFM.
The interview was upsetting for several reasons.
First, the [...]
Eating humble pie on Jacob Zuma
In June this year I wrote on this Blog that Jacob Zuma was “fading fast” and that his Presidential bid was “done for”. Now less than a week before the Polokwane conference it is perhaps appropriate to eat humble pie and admit that I was spectacularly wrong. Even if Thabo Mbeki manages to win – [...]
Interview with Thabo Mbeki by SABC (III)
Now it is time for listeners to ask questions so maybe we will get some serious questions.
Petrus phones and say “we were happy with the President” but why cant he give somebody else a chance. The President gives a ridiculous answer: the members will decide, this is how they elected Mandela, for example and [...]
Interview with Thabo Mbeki by SABC (II)
Back after the break and here we go again with softball questions:
A questioner ask the President about the two centers of power and the decision at the ANC Policy Conference in June this year when the delegates decided that it would be preferable if the President of the ANC was the same as the President [...]
Thabo Mbeki interview on SABC radio (I)
I am listening to the interview of President Thabo Mbeki on the SABC radio stations, part of Mbeki’s election campaign, I suppose. For the first time I will try to Blog live – like Bloggers often do in the USA when there is a Presidential debate. First thoughts:
After ten minutes the political editor of the [...]
On a criminal conviction and the Presidency
A journalist phoned me this morning to ask “just a few questions about some constitutional technicalities”. Driving to work I (illegally) clutch my fancy cellphone while the journalist fired away. “When Members of Parliament are convicted of a crime,” he said, “they lose their seat in the Parliament, hey? So, will Jacob Zuma lose his [...]
Goodbey Mbeki?
Will we see the end of President Thabo Mbeki even before the middle of next year? Speculation seems rife that if Jacob Zuma is elected President of the ANC in two weeks time, the Zuma camp will get rid of President Thabo Mbeki and replace him as Head of State with Jacob Zuma. From Mr. [...]
