By Angela Quintal
President Thabo Mbeki has cleverly positioned himself as an opponent of his African National Congress deputy, Jacob Zuma, to draw the fire of his enemies away from his secretly chosen successor.
This is the view of United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa, once popular in the ANC before being expelled from the party for bringing it into disrepute. He had accused former homeland leader-turned-ANC minister Stella Sigcau of corruption.
This week, in a discussion document before the UDM's national conference next month, Holomisa said there was a growing misconception - the product of careful propaganda - that the war in the ANC was being fought between a populist camp that cared little for democratic niceties and a technocratic and aloof elite.
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'This is hogwash' "This is hogwash. The war we are seeing is between two camps, motivated by greed (for power and control over the resources of the country) who will adopt any ideology for as long as they think it is expedient.
"Today's populists could just as easily be tomorrow's technocrats, just like some of the staunchest communists of yesteryear are today's leading capitalists and implementers of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy."
Another carefully cultivated myth was that the battle was one between Zuma and Mbeki, "while it is nothing of the sort".
"Mbeki has cleverly positioned himself as an opponent, becoming the lightning rod for the anger and attention of the other camp.
"While they are focusing all their energy on him, and embarrassing themselves in the process, he is certainly waiting for them to exhaust all their energy and options."
'He is certainly waiting for them to exhaust all their energy' At that point, Mbeki would step smoothly aside - appearing to be a perfect statesman - and the new "compromise" presidential candidate would appear.
Meanwhile, "machinations and dirty tricks" that accompanied the battle had plunged the ANC into "the depths of immorality".
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This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on November 23, 2005
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