Former president Thabo Mbeki says he was hurt and could still not figure out why Judge Chris Nicholson implicated him in plotting against President Jacob Zuma.
Speaking for the first time about circumstances around his controversial recall from the government over a year ago, Mbeki exclusively told The Sunday Independent how he was angered and hurt by claims made by Nicholson - claims which were later rejected by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Nicholson had implicated Mbeki and his cabinet in a conspiracy to thwart Zuma's attempts to become president of the ANC and later of the country.
"It made us very angry," Mbeki said. The former president has mentioned the political management of the process of his recall in court documents, but never about how he personally felt about the recall.
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Nicholson's judgment hurt him and made him feel bad He told The Sunday Independent that Nicholson's judgment hurt him and made him feel bad. "Why would any judge want to do that? I don't know - I don't think he will ever explain himself because judges don't explain themselves. I mean that was bad."
Banging a sidetable, a visibly irritated Mbeki added: "We said it was not sufficient merely to release a press statement (repudiating comments by Nicholson) because this judge must produce the facts which led him to this conclusion. And we couldn't understand why a judge would sit on a Bench and go out of his way to say this."
Mbeki explained his understanding of the meaning of Nicholson's judgment. He felt that Nicholson "really sought to impugn our integrity", and presented Mbeki and his cabinet as "dishonest people" who "for whatever reason want to intervene in ways that are illegal and unconstitutional".
He said he, like his cabinet colleagues, took the oath of office seriously and the oath was, for him, not just a formality. "For somebody to pop up from somewhere with absolutely no basis ... to come to a conclusion that these are bad people, dishonest people, acted in violation of their oath, this and that and the other; that was bad," he said.
At the time Nicholson took the decision, Mbeki had just been defeated at the Polokwane ANC conference by Zuma, whose faction in the ANC felt that Msholozi was a victim of political machinations.
Mbeki sought not to blame the ANC for having recalled him using a flawed premise Many rejoiced at Nicholson's decision and, about four weeks later, the ANC national executive committee took a decision to recall Mbeki.
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told reporters at a press conference after the decision was taken that the Nicholson judgment played a major role in the discussion that led to the recall.
Mbeki sought not to blame the ANC for having recalled him using a flawed premise: "That was a decision not made by the ANC but by Judge Nicholson and the ANC acted on it. But it's okay, that's the past".
Next week, we publish the full interview with Mbeki on COPE, the campaign ahead of Polokwane, challenges of our time, and his retirement, among other things.
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