Is Mbeki lying about Gautrain Saga

[w1z4rd]

I have just read the Business Day article titled, "Racism behind Gautrain saga, says Mbeki"

Which can be found here...

There are a couple of things Mbeki said in this article that made me question the motivation behind it. Lets have a look through it...

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has taken the African National Congress’s (ANC) alliance partners, opposition parties and the media to task for “assuming that black people are inherently corrupt”.

Now by making that statement am I to assume that all the media and opposition parties are white controlled? Why would a predominantly black party say that "black people are inherently corrupt”.

This does not make sense to me, but less continue.

He says this is how issues such as cabinet ministers’ involvement in the R23bn Gautrain Rapid Rail link project are blown out of proportion.

Umm.... Mr Mbeki... its 23 BILLION Rand. People are going to want to know how that much money is to be spent!

In his weekly online newsletter on Friday, Mbeki says the accusations are a multiparty offensive on the ANC, involving the commercial media — the Sunday Times — the Democratic Alliance, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

Wait just a second. I thought Mbeki was playing the racial card. Cosatu is a white party? I think not. So then... why play the race card?

“What has brought them together is a shared conviction that the ANC has allowed itself to be transformed into a ravenous monster controlled by individuals dedicated to the pursuit of wealth,” he says.

Now I am even more confused. The title of article was "Racism behind Gautrain saga". Not "Corruption and Greed behind Gautrain saga". What a twist. So what, the race card was thrown in there just for fun?

“In these circumstances, it’s up to the accused ANC leaders to prove their innocence, with no obligation on the part of the accusers to prove the correctness of their allegations levelled against these leaders.

“The Gautrain story confirms the hard reality that as long as the racist conviction that Africans are naturally prone to corruption, venality and mismanagement persists, so long must we remain on guard to fight the canards that will be peddled, serving as media headlines with greater frequency than summer rains.”

Mbeki was responding for the first time to allegations that Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and Education Minister Naledi Pandor and the speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, held shares in the consortium building the Gautrain.

Mbeki says none of the accusers in the ANC movement — Cosatu and the SACP — has asked the ANC whether the allegations were true....

The rest is basicaly useless drivel trying to justify previous unsubstantiated claims.

This article has made me question Mbeki a lot more than before. Why is he bringing in the race card when ANC officials are under investigation, and how can it be racist if one of the largest groups to complain is COSATU?

None of this makes sense to me, and looks like a speech writer for Robert Mugabe wrote this.

Could someone who understands journalism please explain this a little clearer to me.

I would also prefer the opinions of people who actually live in South Africa to answer this (*cough* IamCanadian, and that funny american The Confederados *cough*).

 

[NewsFlash]

Just from your quotes, I never heard Mbeki mention and lamenting so many TRUTHS in one article. He must be feeling paranoid or guilty

 

[w1z4rd]

Just from your quotes, I never heard Mbeki mention and lamenting so many TRUTHS in one article. He must be feeling paranoid or guilty

As is my understanding I tend to agree with you. He now looks like a man with something to hide.

He blamed all media and opposition parties. So what... only the ANC is right and the rest of South Africa is wrong?

 

[NewsFlash]

Cosatu slams Mbeki over racism

Cosatu's take
http://www.24.com/news/?p=tsa&i=356979

 

[w1z4rd]

Yeah, thats a nice response from COSATU.

South Africa
Cosatu slams Mbeki over racism
2006-12-10 14:36
Johannesburg - The Congress of South African Trade Unions says it is angered by President Thabo Mbeki's use of the race card against the labour federation.

Cosatu said in a statement on Sunday that Mbeki had written about it and the SACP in his weekly newsletter on ANC Today.

"We find it particularly offensive that President Mbeki has seen fit to play the race card in a manner that suggests that the people with business interests - whom he is defending - are somehow blacker than the working class components of the alliance," Cosatu said.

"Moreover the president's style of engagement leaves much to be desired.

"He never debates on the strength of his arguments or correctness of the points he is raising.

"He always seeks to misrepresent people's genuine concerns in order to ridicule those he disagrees with and question their integrity.

"He throws the race card even against organisations whose membership is constituted mainly by the very ANC members he is leading.

"In the process of doing so he has antagonised countless organisations and left the ANC and the Alliance fractious and deeply divided."

Cosatu would not withdraw even one word of what it had said in the matter of Gautrain and the involvement of some ministers.

"We reiterate that it is wrong for political leaders who have been tasked to lead transformation to get involved in business deals that compromise their roles as government administrators.

"We believe it is immoral for anyone to seek to be both a people's representative and be a businessman or women at the same time."

Cosatu was extremely concerned that a growing number of ANC and government leaders had all manner of business interests, directly or through their spouses.

"In his letter the president does not deny that government ministers and other prominent leaders are shareholders in companies that are profiting from government contracts, and specifically from the Gautrain Bombela contract," Cosatu said.

"On the contrary, the President seeks to justify this situation and to portray it as normal and even admirable."

 

[bekdik]

Is Mbeki lying about Gautrain Saga?

Did his lips move?

 

[Debbie]

I almost feel like I should be apologetic in saying that I agree with Cosatu.