EFF leader Julius Malema says the Jacob Zuma-aligned ANC “RET faction” is as confused about former spy chief Arthur Fraser's intentions with the “Phala Phala offensive” against President Cyril Ramaphosa as the rest of the country.
While many think Fraser is batting for the RET forces, whose most prominent face, Zuma, appointed him as spy boss, the actual force behind the man is former president Thabo Mbeki, Malema said on Wednesday.
According to Malema, Mbeki is intent on making a comeback to lead the ANC.
He was speaking in Houghton, not far from Mbeki’s home, during a multiparty briefing on steps to remove Ramaphosa from office after the Phala Phala allegations by Fraser.
Mbeki accused Ramaphosa of making empty promises on a social compact to take the country out of the economic abyss, claiming “nothing” has happened since the address.
After Ramaphosa was officially endorsed for a second term as ANC leader for the upcoming elective conference in December, it was Mbeki who slammed the endorsement by ANC Limpopo provincial chair Stan Mathabatha as ill-disciplined, asking “what is that?”
On Wednesday, Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago, who appeared with his team to report on the state of the economy and the annual reports of the Bank and the Prudential Authority before parliament’s finance committee, did not want to comment on the investigations into any foreign exchange declarations made by Ramaphosa before they were completed, saying doing so would undermine them.
The committee decided that the Reserve Bank will be required to report to it as soon as possible. –TimesLIVE
“RET forces of the ANC have never in jubilation celebrated Fraser, including on the [Phala Phala] allegations. They have never declared Fraser as a hero and used Phala Phala as a way of decampaigning the president. That is why it was difficult to raise it in the policy conference of the ANC, because it was not their initiative,” said Malema.
“They are asking themselves whose agenda Fraser is driving. The answer is Fraser is with [former] president Mbeki in the unseating of president Ramaphosa, because Mbeki says he is still disgruntled for not finishing his term [as president].
“Fraser is actually working with Mbeki and not the RET forces.”
Sowetan's sister publication TimesLIVE reached out to Mbeki’s office for comment but had not received responses at the time of going to print.
Mbeki has taken swipes at Ramaphosa during ANC events. Most recently, he took to the podium at the memorial service of ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte to say Ramaphosa has failed to deliver on promises made during the state-of-the-nation address.
