Mbeki's mistakes - a UK view

The prospect of President Thabo Mbeki's acceptance of Justice Minister Penuell Maduna's advice to exclude Judge Willem Heath from a probe into an alleged arms deal scam, is being seen here in the same light as the South African government's "three other major blunders".

The newspaper The Guardian elaborates on "anger" experienced in South Africa over the government's disregard of a parliamentary committee for public accounts' insistence that Heath be included in the probe into a suspect government arms contract of R43 million with Britain and other foreign arms companies.

The newspaper finds the South African government guilty of other "serious political errors of judgement". The three black marks against Mbeki's name are for his blundering over HIV/Aids, the government's laxity regarding Zimbabwe, and the rumpus over Lesotho.

"Despite accusations raised by its opponents, there is no evidence of corruption by the South African government in the arms deal. However, it is guilty of other serious political errors of judgement."

The newspaper argues that even though Mbeki retracted on his denial of a connection between HIV and Aids, his prestige took a sharp knock in South Africa, the country with most HIV-infected people world-wide.

In addition, the government's lame stance over Robert Mugabe had been as ineffective as the furore created in Britain over the issue.

"Mbeki, however, has more to lose. Should Zimbabwe be crippled economically, an influx of its citizens could paralyse South Africa," the newspaper said.

The government's intervention in Lesotho in 1998 had also been a "military and political blunder". The nation had been outraged when a well-equipped, but poorly prepared South African force got bogged down against an ill-equipped opponent, leaving Maseru practically destroyed.

The article, reporting over Mbeki's acceptance of Justice Minister Penuell Maduna's recommendation that Heath be excluded from the three investigating teams into the arms deal, says that in South Africa the government is being accused of overriding democracy.

Extensive coverage is given to the fact that a request from the committee for public accounts was disregarded, and also to criticism from the PAC, the IFP and even from the Archbishop of Cape Town, the Reverend Njongonkulu Ndungane.

Source: News 24.com