MBEKI-COPE LINK IS UNTRUE, SAYS PROFESSOR
A report that ousted president Thabo Mbeki was directly involved in the formation of Cope, the ANC breakaway party, was a "misinterpretation", a Unisa professor said on Thursday.
"They certainly misinterpreted the whole situation and therefore what is stated there at the moment, either by the journalist or by whatever other reports, it's certainly not a correct reflection of the situation," professor Dirk Kotze told SABC radio news.
He was responding to a report in Beeld newspaper, quoting a secret US diplomatic note obtained by Media24. The note is dated December 5, 2008, and concerns a meeting between a diplomat, the US embassy and Kotze, reported Beeld under a headline naming the website WikiLeaks as the source.
According to the note, Mbeki, who was asked to resign as president of the country by the African National Congress in September 2008, was involved in writing the Congress of the People's policy documents.
Kotze reportedly told the US diplomat that Cope spokesman Smuts Ngonyama, a former Mbeki spokesman, had said the policy document was drafted by Mbeki.
"Smuts made it very clear that it [the policy document] had come from Mbeki," said Kotze.
He added: "The document has all the characteristics of many of Mbeki's ANC letters."
Both Kotze and Ngonyama denied the report.
Mbeki's spokesman, Mukoni Rat****anga, declined to comment.
Source : Sapa
