Johannesburg – Former South African president Thabo Mbeki has ignited a firestorm within the African National Congress (ANC) by launching a scathing attack on his successor, Jacob Zuma, questioning the legitimacy of his Robben Island imprisonment and suggesting he was a counter-revolutionary agent planted within the party.
The explosive allegations were made during a recent ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni. The meeting was convened to address the ANC's disappointing electoral performance in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
According to multiple NEC members present, Mbeki stunned the room into silence when he cast doubt on the trial that led to Zuma's conviction and subsequent 10-year imprisonment on Robben Island during the apartheid era. Mbeki reportedly stated that there were "unanswered questions" and "suspicious circumstances" surrounding the trial.
Mbeki allegedly claimed that no verifiable records exist to prove that Zuma ever attended a trial, fueling speculation that Zuma was strategically placed on Robben Island as an operative of the enemy from the moment he joined the ANC.
The former president urged NEC members to confront the uncomfortable questions surrounding Zuma's actions, particularly his formation of the MK Party, which is widely seen as undermining the ANC.
"He was saying we must ask ourselves who does Zuma work for exactly because it is not the ANC," said one NEC member, summarising Mbeki's sentiments.
Mbeki went on to describe Zuma as a "mascot of a counter-revolution" throughout his years in the ANC, a characterisation that reportedly left the NEC members in stunned silence.
Mbeki's remarks were prompted by the widespread belief within the ANC that Zuma, through his MK Party, was directly responsible for the ANC losing its outright majority in the recent elections and nearly decimating the party's presence in KZN.
Another long-serving NEC member corroborated Mbeki's claims, stating, "In the last NEC, president Mbeki attacked Zuma, saying his imprisonment was not recorded for the 10 years he served on Robben Island. He was saying nobody knows about the trial Zuma allegedly attended and records thereof do not exist."
Mbeki's allegations gained further traction due to Zuma's recent public statement outside a Durban court during the appearance of his daughter, Duduzile. Zuma told his supporters, "I was arrested by oppressors and sentenced to 10 years and six months. I was sentenced without setting foot in court."
According to another NEC member, Mbeki argued that the absence of a legitimate trial and conviction pointed to Zuma being "planted by the enemy forces to infiltrate the ANC and compromise its leaders," adding that "hence his rise in various structures of the ANC, before and after 1994 is highly questionable."
However, some NEC leaders have dismissed Mbeki's claims as the product of bitterness stemming from his defeat to Zuma at the 2007 ANC Polokwane conference.
"President Mbeki is a conspiracy theorist who has a problem with president Zuma. His argument about missing records is narrow because there are a lot of missing records for things that happened during apartheid," said an NEC member sympathetic to Zuma.
This NEC member questioned the timing of Mbeki's accusations, asking, "When did Zuma become an agent of counter-revolution and when did he [Mbeki] know this because they were best friends in exile in Swaziland, sleeping in the same bed? What is obvious is that Mbeki has never recovered from the Polokwane conference defeat inflicted by Zuma. That is his main gripe."
The Zuma-aligned NEC member further criticised Mbeki, stating, "He talks of Zuma being a collaborator of the counter-revolutionary forces and claims that elements of this counter-revolution were carrying guns in Polokwane and if Zuma did not win there was going to be blood on the floor. With that statement, he is undermining branches and members of the ANC. In his head, he is the only genuine ANC member."
Another NEC member pointed out that Mbeki's current claims contradict previous statements in which he claimed that he and Zuma jointly identified apartheid spies within the ANC.
Despite the criticism, another NEC member, an avid critic of Zuma, suggested that Mbeki's comments implied that Zuma was recruited as a spy and "sneaked into Robben Island" to inform on ANC leaders.
"We understand that TM (Mbeki) was essentially saying that Zuma was always a spy," said the NEC member. This leader defended the timing of Mbeki's revelations, arguing that many secrets about ANC leaders were deliberately kept hidden for strategic reasons.
A leader sympathetic to Mbeki noted that no NEC member disputed Mbeki's version of events during the meeting, suggesting that his characterisation of Zuma may be accurate.
"There was silence in the meeting because president Mbeki was stating what he believed were facts. President Mbeki went to town with the information characterising Zuma as a counter-revolutionary," said the leader.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-motsiri declined to comment on the matter, stating that the party does not comment on internal and confidential meetings. Mbeki could not be reached for comment, and Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi stated that they do not comment on ANC gossip.
