A report that ousted president Thabo Mbeki was directly involved in the formation of Cope, the ANC breakaway party, was a “misinterpretation”, a Unisa professor said on Thursday.
Professor Dirk Kotze said: “They certainly misinterpreted the whole situation and therefore what is stated there at the moment, either by the journalist or by whatever other reports, it's certainly not a correct reflection of the situation.”
He was responding to a report naming the website WikiLeaks as its source and quoting a secret US diplomatic note dated December 5, 2008, about a meeting between a diplomat, the US embassy and Kotze.
According to the note, Mbeki, who was asked to resign as president of the country by the African National Congress in September 2008, was involved in writing the Congress of the People's policy documents.
Kotze reportedly told the US diplomat that Cope spokesman Smuts Ngonyama, a former Mbeki spokesman, had said the policy document was drafted by Mbeki.
Kotze was quoted as saying: “Smuts made it very clear that the policy document had come from Mbeki. The document has all the characteristics of many of Mbeki's ANC letters.”
Both Kotze and Ngonyama denied the report.
Mbeki's spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, declined to comment. - SapaProfessor Dirk Kotze said