Durban - Former President Thabo Mbeki has again questioned the deterioration in quality of governance in the country in the wake of the cholera outbreak.
Speaking in Conakry, Guinea, on the sidelines of his annual Africa Day lecture, Mbeki said the cholera outbreak in Hammanskraal was an example of the continued deterioration of governance.
At least 24 people are reported to have died after the outbreak in Gauteng and the Free State.
Mbeki also suggested that citizens needed to find a way to pressure their leaders.
He said this pressure from below needed to be exerted on the government and that the masses should rebel against a system of government that was not working in their interests.
In March, Mbeki sent a 17-page letter to ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile questioning why the ANC had consistently blocked any parliamentary probe into the Phala Phala scandal, and why the party voted against a parliamentary inquiry into corruption at Eskom after serious claims were made by former CEO André de Ruyter.
Mbeki reminded party members of the role of the ANC as the principal defender of the gains of the national democratic revolution, including the Constitution.
He also warned the party against alienating the masses through decisions taken in Parliament.
Professor Collette Schulz-Herzenberg, an expert in democracy and governance at the University of Stellenbosch, said that Mbeki was well within his rights to raise concerns about governance, and did not feel hamstrung by partisan party membership.
She said load shedding, high unemployment and the rising cost of living were just some of the many challenges facing South Africans.
“There is a responsibility on former heads of state in terms of how they frame the discussion. He makes valid points about governance and is raising the issue of the growing voice of discontent in the country.”
Schulz-Herzenberg said Mbeki’s reference to the masses in the country rebelling was interesting, but may not be realistic.
“There are sporadic outbursts of unhappiness, but most South Africans are just trying to survive.”
Political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said Mbeki was making it clear that he was not a puppet and that he was jealously guarding his intellectual independence.
“He is not shy to say that the ANC is displaying counter-revolutionary tendencies as it stands.The party leader has been protected from accountability, and Mbeki has been explicit about this. The current leadership is the weakest we have ever had,” said Seepe.
Last year, former presidents Jacob Zuma, Kgalema Motlanthe and Mbeki publicly rebuked Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala scandal.
Zuma accused Ramaphosa of corruption and committing treason following a cash heist scandal at the president’s farm, while Mbeki and Motlanthe also commented publicly on the controversial Phala Phala matter.