Cape Town - Former ANC provincial leader Ebrahim Rasool, who was recalled as premier of the Western Cape in 2008 before later being posted as ambassador to the US, said his recall had been a relief because he had often been conflicted by being a religious person who sometimes had to do “unethical” things as a politician.
“I was uncomfortable when I was trapped in a political position and I had to step beyond my ethical bounds to deal with the exigencies of politics. By the time the ANC decided to recall me as premier, it came more as a relief than as disappointment or anger,” Rasool said this week.
Asked for specifics of the unethical stuff , Rasool said it mainly related to ANC internal battles.
“I have no worries about the brown envelope stuff because my conscience is completely clear.
“I cultivated media relations otherwise we would never have had a look in with the main newspapers in Cape Town, but I have never paid for that.
“I have been vindicated by the fact that the DA has made six forensic investigations and the ANC has investigated it.
“Also, the person who made the allegation has given me a signed confession of how much he was paid for it. I don’t even feel the compulsion to leak that document.
“But the factional battles in the ANC are not something that I am proud of, having to defend yourself by going on to the offensive against other people. It was always an act of exertion rather than something that came naturally from my soul.”
Rasool was appointed ambassador to the US in 2008, which he described as one of the highlights of his life.
“It was exhilarating to be an ambassador under President Barack Obama.
“This gave me a disproportionate voice in the US to the extent that I would even be invited to think tank meetings that would decide foreign policy for the second term of Obama.
“It was unfortunate it coincided with the final years of Nelson Mandela and I encountered great anxiety when I arrived there. People had seen Mandela at the closing of the Soccer World Cup in 2010, sitting on the back of a golf cart. They realised that he was mortal.
“People were wondering if something of our soul was going to leave with him.
“I used that opportunity to create outpouring opportunities for people. We decided to place Mandela’s statue outside the embassy, where the first anti-apartheid civil rights activists were arrested.”
Rasool said Obama might have had unrealistic expectations of his presidency.
“If President Obama were to think back over his term as president of the US, he should not only have regrets about what he could have done, but he would realise the limitations of his powers.
“If Congress hates you because you are black, you will not get anything done. If you cannot manage the executive authority over how blacks are treated, or even issue a decree on a simple self-evident issue of gun violence, then what is your presidency about?”
Rasool said the world was becoming polarised between ultra-left and ultra-right.
“You can’t look at Donald Trump without looking at Bernie Sanders. On the one side there is this visceral racism and intolerance, the idea that a black president has taken our country away from us, and that we are being overrun by the other.
“Trump has been able to get away with pressing the hot buttons of bigotry and with the vague promise of making America great again, which could easily be making America white again.
“That is a global phenomenon, because we live in an era where money, goods, capital, technology flow in an instant, but the moment people display the same mobility, we don’t know what to do with them. But there are young people who are saying the world can be different, we can live inclusively and we can coexist.”
Rasool said his most difficult task in the US had been explaining the Marikana massacre.
“The coalition of black trade unions was horrified that in post-apartheid South Africa 35 people could be shot dead.
“They convened a meeting of Trans-Africa and all the greats of the anti-apartheid struggle and penned a devastating letter. If that letter ever saw the light of day, it would be the greatest vote of no-confidence in democratic South Africa from people who fought in the trenches for our freedom.
“Out of courtesy to me, they came to see me as a delegation. They said they wanted to read me a letter that they were going to send to President Jacob Zuma and then release to the media. I read that letter and I thought, whatever the aberrations in South Africa, we can’t afford this to be the epitaph to be written on our gravestone.
“I asked them not to send the letter and in return I would organise a memorial service in Washington for the victims of the Marikana massacre where they could say what they wanted to say. At the memorial, we mourned the loss of innocence in South Africa. But by that time, they had tempered their language.
“There are ways of representing your country in tragic moments.
“You can do the perfunctory thing, issue the statement, justifying it, swearing allegiance and make as if nothing has gone wrong, blame everything on the workers - or you can simply be honest.”
Rasool believes the ANC in the Western Cape is in a worse condition now than when he was its leader.
“In 2008 my approval rating as premier was at about 62 percent, and the ANC government’s approval rate in the Western Cape was at 53 percent.
“It is sad that the ANC could muster only 30 percent in the last election, below what we got in 1994. We are fighting for our life, we are caught up in the identity politics that I thought we had left behind in 1994. We are mired in controversy, allegations of corruption and of unethical behaviour.
“Whether I would have been able to make a difference is another matter.”
He believes the ANC would have to implement a 10-year programme to win back the Western Cape.
“We must set ourselves at least another 10-year time frame from this election and we must do the hard yards again, like we did between 1994 and 2004. You cannot get the confidence of the province if you cannot build unity in the ANC. You can’t project an image of non-racialism if you are fragmented racially within the ANC.”
Rasool said national politics were impacting on local government elections.
“If you are spending an election campaign defending, you are never getting the opportunity to advance.
“When I go to mosque, I have to spend the first 10 minutes explaining what went wrong. For activists who have to canvass door to door, it is fear-inspiring to meet only scepticism.”
Asked whether he would consider a comeback, he said he remained a “political animal” and an ANC member.
“There will always be something that I will have to be grateful for to the ANC, but because of all those experiences, I also have the obligation to say things in the gentlest, most intelligent ways when I see things are wrong.”
Weekend Argus