The star News Online
Thursday, December 14, 2006
The South African Communist Party has accused President Thabo Mbeki of playing the race card, with the party also tearing into his views on the Gautrain project and raising more questions about political connectivity.
Noting Mbeki's "contemptuous" dismissal of concerns about senior ANC political figures and the Gautrain, the party said yesterday that waving the race card detracted from the very serious and principled issues at hand.
However, instead of emulating Cosatu's personal attacks on Mbeki over the issue, the SACP devoted its commentary to blowing the president's arguments out of the water.
While the author of the article posted on the SACP's Umsebenzi website is not identified, party deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin has been at the forefront of the National Assembly transport committee's rejection of the project. The article yesterday restated the concerns raised by the parliamentary committee.
The SACP noted that Mbeki had gone out of his way to minimise the cabinet's role in the project and his view that the ministers with financial interests in firms with a stake in the Bombela consortium could not have influenced the awarding of the contract.
The government had been drawn into it only because it became obvious that the Gauteng government would not have the resources to implement the project, Mbeki argued last week. However, the SACP said this in itself was a serious problem.
Although the party accepted that Education Minister Naledi Pandor, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete could not have influenced the awarding of the contract to Bombela, Mbeki's assurances raised questions.
"In the first place, you can bet that in the incestuous rivalries, back-stabbings and elbowing that occurred as various BEE firms scrambled to impress the bidders, there was much political name-dropping."
Leading political figures should not be surprised to find their names popping up. "It underlines the importance of a rethink on how we draw clear boundaries between political office and private business," the SACP said.