'He died a very unhappy comrade': Ramatlhodi sparks debate about Mboweni's views on GNU, state of ANC

There was debate at former finance minister Tito Mboweni's funeral on whether or not he supported the ANC’s decision to form the government of national unity (GNU) which includes political parties that are ordinarily not aligned to the ANC.

This was after his long-time friend, former cabinet minister and ex-ANC NEC member Ngoako Ramatlhodi in his tribute to Mboweni said he died an unhappy man.

Ramatlhodi said he spent a lot of time with Mboweni towards the end of his life discussing the current state of the ANC, which for the first time dipped below 50% at the polls. He said their conversations centred around a concern for the fate of the national democratic revolution (NDR).

“He died a very unhappy comrade,” said Ramatlhodi, “as we used to spend a lot of time discussing issues facing the movement and our country, in particular the fate of the national democratic revolution”.

Without specifically saying what Mboweni’s views were, Ramatlhodi said that Mboweni in June sent him a quotation from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities as part of their debate around the state of the ANC and the country. The quote reads: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

“This message,” said Ramatlhodi, “was sent to me as part of the difficult conversations we had been having in recent times. I choose not to quote the dead when they have no right of reply.”

EFF leader Julius Malema said Ramatlhodi’s remarks showed that Mboweni did not support the GNU.

“He was not happy with the GNU and Ngoako Ramatlhodi’s speech made it very clear that he was not happy when he was at the farm during his last days on earth,” said Malema. “The ANC is not self-correcting, it will not self-correct and anyone who leaves his own organisation to join the ANC is actually committing suicide because you are jumping into a sinking ship.”

Former deputy president David Mabuza, meanwhile, lauded the ANC for the establishment of GNU, saying it was the best tactical move the party made given the outcomes of the elections. However, he said there was a worrying trend that the ANC itself was not able to deal with its internal affairs.

“The ANC is facing serious challenges within. It started long ago and instead of getting better, it’s getting worse,” said Mabuza on the sidelines of the funeral. “I’m sure the current leadership will look at the situation and find the best way to respond. I think we can still respond to this situation, we can still change, we can still do what is right.”

But on the GNU Mabuza said his party the ANC lost the elections and were left with limited choices.

“The current situation — well, there’s nothing much to say because we’ve lost the elections. Now if you’ve lost, you’re no longer in charge — you always find a way of negotiating with other people. That’s a tactical way of responding to the current environment and I’m sure the ANC will learn from this current situation and we’re here all of us to help where necessary,” he said.

ANC Veterans' League leader Snuki Zikalala also backed the GNU, saying the criticism was unwarranted. He said he strongly opposed SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila’s view that the ANC should have rather gone into a coalition with black parties such as the EFF instead of the DA.

“Because the SACP feels that we should have gone into an alliance with MK Party or EFF, ideologically we differ completely on this issue. Because who is MK Party? All the people in MK Party are people implicated in state capture, all of them. So how do you go and form an alliance with people who are involved in state capture? How do you do that?” he said.

“Same thing with EFF, wherever we have run a municipality with EFF, there are always serious problems of governance, so how do we go there? What is EFF’s ideology? EFF does not believe that our constitution is supreme; in as far as we’re concerned, our South African constitution is supreme. It does not believe in the rule of law, it does not believe in proper governance of municipalities. How do you go into an alliance with such a party?”

Zikalala said he had not spoken to Mboweni about the GNU but the ANC NEC had decided to go this route and everyone in the party had to accept this position.

“I don’t know, I’ve never spoken to him about it,” he said.

“The ANC is an organisation that takes decisions on consensus. Now if majority of NEC members says let’s go to GNU because we lost elections, in a sense that we did not get 51%, it’s either we go to opposition benches or we form a minority government which is going to be unstable. So the best option is that we go to the GNU — and a GNU which is led by the ANC. Where is the problem there?”

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