Cape Town — The ANC will look to convene a meeting with former President Thabo Mbeki following a letter in which he criticised the party for the way votes were cast in the National Assembly on the Phala Phala matter and a motion on Eskom.
Mbeki composed a 17-page letter to the party’s deputy president, Paul Mashatile.
He mentioned how the report by SARS commissioner Edward Kieswetter “deepens the puzzle about what exactly happened at the Phala Phala farm”.
SARS confirmed that the record for the alleged $580 000 transaction between Sudanese businessman Hazim Mustafa and Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm “could not be found and /or may not be in existence”.
“In this context, consistent with what Comrade President Ramaphosa said in the Open Letter I have cited, we must be honest with ourselves and understand that many among the masses of our people will entertain the suspicion that the Phala Phala matter includes corruption.
“In that sense this is no different from the ‘Nkandla matter’ which, once again, many among our people suspected involved corrupt practice,” Mbeki wrote in the letter.
Ziyamporoma!!!
————-‐——————-Thabo Mbeki writes a scathing letter addressed to Deputy President Paul Mashatile regarding, inter alia the Phala Phala matter, corruption and the flouting of parliamentary processes, all designed to protect President Ramaphosa pic.twitter.com/FWnWzDqT9L
— MrVaughan-Jones (VJ) ? ? (@Olwethu_V_Jones) March 30, 2023
TimesLIVE reported that ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the leadership of the party would meet the former president in a bid to explain why certain decisions regarding Phala Phala were made.
“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,” Mbalula was quoted as saying.
“Yes, that letter is very much authentic, that is why we are saying that we regret that it is now being leaked to everybody but we will be sitting down to discuss that letter.”
“If a senior leader of the organisation, who is a veteran and a stalwart, has got a different view on matters we need to sit, listen and process. We don’t run away from issues, we discuss,” Mbalula added.
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Picture: Twitter/@MbalulaFikile
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Compiled by Junaid Benjamin
