Mbeki was deceived, he is not the right man for Codesa 2 – expert

Former president Thabo Mbeki was right to call for a national dialogue to debate the country’s future but, as a former negotiator during the pre-1994 negotiations at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa), he was the wrong leader to facilitate such talks. said one expert.

The planned Codesa 2 was necessary, said political analyst Professor Lesiba Teffo, but it was called by the wrong people: those who handled the pre-1994 negotiations that had since caused chaos under the ANC.

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Mbeki, as one of the ANC’s negotiators in exile with the Afrikaner delegation for a democratic South Africa, was unsuitable because black leaders were tricked into compromises at the negotiating table, Teffo said.

‘Not responsible’

“It cannot be the former protagonists of Codesa who led us to this unfortunate state. The current systems are much worse than apartheid and the national system.

“The planned Codesa 2 might also be remembered for its extravagant budget and glossy, voluminous reports. Let’s learn from the mistakes of yesteryear.”

The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) welcomed the idea. FF+ leader Dr Pieter Groenewald said his party had called another Codesa-style meeting to talk about how to create a prosperous South Africa for all.

He said such a meeting should discuss the issue of self-determination contained in Section 235 of the Constitution as it was the main outstanding issue from the previous talks.

Mbeki told attendees at South Africa’s 30th anniversary celebration of democracy last week that the country needed to have a national dialogue. He promised it would happen this year.

But Rainbow Alliance South Africa president Colleen Makhubele had a different opinion. She lashed out at Mbeki for “facing a moral crisis by wanting political parties to come together in a national dialogue to resolve a clear internal ANC factional crisis involving the ruling party and its separatist uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.”

“The MK party is not a crisis for the nation, it is a crisis for the ANC and what it represents,” Makhubele said.

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“We really think this is a waste of time. Let’s go to the elections; Let the ideas that people resonate with be voted on.

“Let’s see who emerges as the leader of this nation and can reverse the crisis and the moral clarity of this nation,” he said.

Groenewald said the convention agenda should also contain discussions on black economic empowerment, affirmative action, job creation and deliberations on the 12 official languages, which include sign language.

“I would also like to see that in the end we respect each other’s culture and that everyone has the right to practice it, even if the constitution determines so.”

He said South Africa’s leaders must stop talking about the past as if they were trying to create a better past, when in reality they want to create a better future.

“We must stop blaming apartheid for everything. We must start holding hands and working towards a future where we can create prosperity, security and peace in South Africa,” Groenewald said.