Three of the country's leading black businessmen, all central figures in the anti-apartheid struggle and senior members of the governing African National Congress, have been cleared of accusations that they were plotting to oust President Thabo Mbeki. The accusations against Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Matthews Phosa were widely denounced as absurd and dangerous when they were made in April.
In announcing the results of the investigation, Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete, who first accused the men, expressed his ''profound apologies'' to them and their families.
Source: New York Times
Showing posts with label Steve Tshwete. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve Tshwete. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 5, 2001
Thursday, April 26, 2001
Three Businessmen Accused of Plot to Oust South African President
After weeks of whispers about political jousting and maneuvering within the governing African National Congress, the minister of safety and security has accused three leading members of the party of plotting to oust President Thabo Mbeki. The announcement that the three, Cyril Ramaphosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Matthews Phosa, all prominent businessmen, were under investigation was front-page news today and it left some government officials reeling. All three were fighters for liberation during the apartheid regime.
Mr. Ramaphosa and Mr. Sexwale have long been viewed as potential rivals to Mr. Mbeki although both men have left politics to pursue lucrative careers in business. Opposition politicians quickly condemned the investigation as an attempt by Mr. Mbeki to neutralize opponents who might be tempted to deny his hopes for a second term. A.N.C. officials denied that the probe was politically motivated.
The investigation became public on Tuesday night when Steve Tshwete, minister of safety and security, announced on national television that the three men were believed to be running a disinformation campaign against the president. Of particular concern, Mr. Tshwete said, were rumors charging Mr. Mbeki with orchestrating the assassination in 1993 of Chris Hani, the revered South African Communist Party leader. Two right-wing whites were convicted of killing Mr. Hani, who was one of Mr. Mbeki's rivals for the position of deputy president to Nelson R. Mandela.
Mr. Tshwete said rumors linking President Mbeki to the death of Mr. Hani might have led Mr. Hani's supporters to turn on the president. ''There are sworn affidavits of a plot and disinformation campaign and we have to investigate to see to what extent does it compromise the safety of the president so that we can take the necessary precautions,'' Andre Martin, a spokesman for Mr. Tshwete, said in an interview this afternoon. Officials refused to divulge further details of the reported plot today, but Mr. Tshwete said that the government was bolstering Mr. Mbeki's personal security.
The allegations are the most recent hint of factional fighting within the party. Mr. Mbeki, who succeeded Mr. Mandela in 1999, has been viewed as increasingly vulnerable in A.N.C. circles. Polls indicate that his popularity has slipped, and he has stumbled in his handling of the AIDS epidemic and some other issues. In a surprise public statement earlier this month, Deputy President Jacob Zuma unexpectedly denied rumors and ''unverified, so-called intelligence reports'' that he might stand for the position of A.N.C. president. Earlier this year, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, president of the African National Congress Women's League, denied that she was spreading malicious rumors about Mr. Mbeki. Mr. Sexwale and Mr. Phosa vehemently denied today that they were plotting against the president.
Mr. Ramaphosa, who was once the A.N.C.'s secretary general and is now chairman of a powerful media and telecommunications company, helped lead the negotiations that brought an end to all white rule and was Mr. Mandela's first choice as a successor. Mr. Sexwale, who was imprisoned by the apartheid government and later ran the provincial government that includes Johannesburg, ''is more than satisfied'' with running a black empowerment company with interests in diamond and platinum mines, his family said. ''Our country faces real and serious socio-economic problems, most of all poverty,'' the family said in its statement. ''It is an unwarranted, precious time-wasting exercise to be diverted by gossip and rumor-mongering based on cooked-up stories.''
Mr. Phosa, who served as an A.N.C. legal adviser under apartheid and led the province of Mpumalanga before moving into business, described the allegations as ''insulting the intelligence of ordinary South Africans.'' Leaders of the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, describing the investigation as an abuse of government powers. Mr. Mbeki declined to discuss the issue today, but in a TV interview on Tuesday, he urged the so-called conspirators to abandon their plotting and to declare their ambitions.
Source: New York Times
Mr. Ramaphosa and Mr. Sexwale have long been viewed as potential rivals to Mr. Mbeki although both men have left politics to pursue lucrative careers in business. Opposition politicians quickly condemned the investigation as an attempt by Mr. Mbeki to neutralize opponents who might be tempted to deny his hopes for a second term. A.N.C. officials denied that the probe was politically motivated.
The investigation became public on Tuesday night when Steve Tshwete, minister of safety and security, announced on national television that the three men were believed to be running a disinformation campaign against the president. Of particular concern, Mr. Tshwete said, were rumors charging Mr. Mbeki with orchestrating the assassination in 1993 of Chris Hani, the revered South African Communist Party leader. Two right-wing whites were convicted of killing Mr. Hani, who was one of Mr. Mbeki's rivals for the position of deputy president to Nelson R. Mandela.
Mr. Tshwete said rumors linking President Mbeki to the death of Mr. Hani might have led Mr. Hani's supporters to turn on the president. ''There are sworn affidavits of a plot and disinformation campaign and we have to investigate to see to what extent does it compromise the safety of the president so that we can take the necessary precautions,'' Andre Martin, a spokesman for Mr. Tshwete, said in an interview this afternoon. Officials refused to divulge further details of the reported plot today, but Mr. Tshwete said that the government was bolstering Mr. Mbeki's personal security.
The allegations are the most recent hint of factional fighting within the party. Mr. Mbeki, who succeeded Mr. Mandela in 1999, has been viewed as increasingly vulnerable in A.N.C. circles. Polls indicate that his popularity has slipped, and he has stumbled in his handling of the AIDS epidemic and some other issues. In a surprise public statement earlier this month, Deputy President Jacob Zuma unexpectedly denied rumors and ''unverified, so-called intelligence reports'' that he might stand for the position of A.N.C. president. Earlier this year, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, president of the African National Congress Women's League, denied that she was spreading malicious rumors about Mr. Mbeki. Mr. Sexwale and Mr. Phosa vehemently denied today that they were plotting against the president.
Mr. Ramaphosa, who was once the A.N.C.'s secretary general and is now chairman of a powerful media and telecommunications company, helped lead the negotiations that brought an end to all white rule and was Mr. Mandela's first choice as a successor. Mr. Sexwale, who was imprisoned by the apartheid government and later ran the provincial government that includes Johannesburg, ''is more than satisfied'' with running a black empowerment company with interests in diamond and platinum mines, his family said. ''Our country faces real and serious socio-economic problems, most of all poverty,'' the family said in its statement. ''It is an unwarranted, precious time-wasting exercise to be diverted by gossip and rumor-mongering based on cooked-up stories.''
Mr. Phosa, who served as an A.N.C. legal adviser under apartheid and led the province of Mpumalanga before moving into business, described the allegations as ''insulting the intelligence of ordinary South Africans.'' Leaders of the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, describing the investigation as an abuse of government powers. Mr. Mbeki declined to discuss the issue today, but in a TV interview on Tuesday, he urged the so-called conspirators to abandon their plotting and to declare their ambitions.
Source: New York Times
Monday, September 7, 1992
The Bhisho Massacre: the day 29 people died
Bhisho, the administrative capital of the Eastern Cape, was once the capital of the Ciskei, a so-called homeland of South Africa. It gave its name to a massacre that happened there on September 7 1992 when Ciskei strongman Oupa Gqozo's troops opened fire on an ANC march heading into the capital. Twenty-eight protesters and one soldier died. Hundreds of others were injured.
At that time, negotiations for South Africa's non-racial constitution had broken down amid accusations that the ruling National Party was fomenting "third force" violence in black townships. Another stumbling block was the refusal of Gqozo to participate in negotiations and undertake to give up the homeland's "independence". The meeting at the stadium in Bhisho was organised by the ANC to protest this, to demand free political activity and an end to state violence and repression in the Ciskei.
About 80 000 people - including Chris Hani, Cyril Ramaphosa, Steve Tshwete and Harry Gwala - marched from King William's Town to Bhisho, chanting "no more slavery".
Disastrous miscalculation
Determined to peacefully occupy Bhisho and force Gqozo's resignation, Ronnie Kasrils, a stalwart of ANC protests, led a section of the marchers through a gap in the razor wire erected to contain them. In his autobiography Armed and Dangerous: My Undercover Struggle with Apartheid, Kasrils writes: "By not charging in their [soldiers] direction, by giving them a wide berth, we would avoid confrontation." The organisers and the demonstrators believed that with the eyes of the world on them, Gqozo's troops would not dare open fire.
But this was a disastrous miscalculation. Ciskei troops opened fire, ostensibly on the orders of Gqozo.
Recounting it later, Kasrils writes: "One moment I was running, my comrades with me. The next instant, without warning, the soldiers opened fire." Kasrils hit the ground, but bullets cut into the crowd following him. Petros Vantyu, his bodyguard, was one of those hit by the gunfire. "As I began to crawl towards him, the gunfire broke out again, as angry and prolonged as before, and I froze where I lay. The sinister whirr of projectiles overhead, followed by four dull thuds, made me realise with horror that they were firing grenades as well."
Deadlock breaker
An official investigation revealed that the first fusillade lasted one-and-a-half minutes, while the second lasted a minute. More than 425 rounds were fired. At the end, bodies lay scattered in pools of blood along the line of razor wire erected to contain the marchers.
Gqozo denied giving the order to fire. He accused ANC demonstrators of opening fire first, killing a soldier. He said his troops had acted with restraint. Then-president FW de Klerk said at the time that the massacre resulted from the ANC's failure to observe march conditions agreed with Ciskei authorities. "I did not start mass action, the ANC did. It is a fallacy, an unsubstantiated lie, that my government was involved," he said.
But Nelson Mandela differed with him. "The creation of a climate for free political activity, including in the homelands, is an important condition for us to return to the negotiating table. An enormous responsibility rests with the South African government to create that climate."
In the end, massacres in Bhisho and Boipatong, where 49 people were killed, acted as deadlock-breaking mechanisms. Key players in the negotiation process were forced to rethink their strategies and options. The spiral of violence gave way to the reopening of talks and South Africa once again resumed its journey towards democracy and freedom, which culminated in the country's first democratic elections in 1994.
Source: Buffalo City Metro
At that time, negotiations for South Africa's non-racial constitution had broken down amid accusations that the ruling National Party was fomenting "third force" violence in black townships. Another stumbling block was the refusal of Gqozo to participate in negotiations and undertake to give up the homeland's "independence". The meeting at the stadium in Bhisho was organised by the ANC to protest this, to demand free political activity and an end to state violence and repression in the Ciskei.
About 80 000 people - including Chris Hani, Cyril Ramaphosa, Steve Tshwete and Harry Gwala - marched from King William's Town to Bhisho, chanting "no more slavery".
Disastrous miscalculation
Determined to peacefully occupy Bhisho and force Gqozo's resignation, Ronnie Kasrils, a stalwart of ANC protests, led a section of the marchers through a gap in the razor wire erected to contain them. In his autobiography Armed and Dangerous: My Undercover Struggle with Apartheid, Kasrils writes: "By not charging in their [soldiers] direction, by giving them a wide berth, we would avoid confrontation." The organisers and the demonstrators believed that with the eyes of the world on them, Gqozo's troops would not dare open fire.
But this was a disastrous miscalculation. Ciskei troops opened fire, ostensibly on the orders of Gqozo.
Recounting it later, Kasrils writes: "One moment I was running, my comrades with me. The next instant, without warning, the soldiers opened fire." Kasrils hit the ground, but bullets cut into the crowd following him. Petros Vantyu, his bodyguard, was one of those hit by the gunfire. "As I began to crawl towards him, the gunfire broke out again, as angry and prolonged as before, and I froze where I lay. The sinister whirr of projectiles overhead, followed by four dull thuds, made me realise with horror that they were firing grenades as well."
Deadlock breaker
An official investigation revealed that the first fusillade lasted one-and-a-half minutes, while the second lasted a minute. More than 425 rounds were fired. At the end, bodies lay scattered in pools of blood along the line of razor wire erected to contain the marchers.
Gqozo denied giving the order to fire. He accused ANC demonstrators of opening fire first, killing a soldier. He said his troops had acted with restraint. Then-president FW de Klerk said at the time that the massacre resulted from the ANC's failure to observe march conditions agreed with Ciskei authorities. "I did not start mass action, the ANC did. It is a fallacy, an unsubstantiated lie, that my government was involved," he said.
But Nelson Mandela differed with him. "The creation of a climate for free political activity, including in the homelands, is an important condition for us to return to the negotiating table. An enormous responsibility rests with the South African government to create that climate."
In the end, massacres in Bhisho and Boipatong, where 49 people were killed, acted as deadlock-breaking mechanisms. Key players in the negotiation process were forced to rethink their strategies and options. The spiral of violence gave way to the reopening of talks and South Africa once again resumed its journey towards democracy and freedom, which culminated in the country's first democratic elections in 1994.
Source: Buffalo City Metro
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