Letters

Recent editions of the Mail & Guardian, and commentators in the media generally, have accused the African National Congress of being paranoid because it alleges there is an "elite" in South Africa that seeks to set the agenda for the ANC and the country.

Although I am an ANC member, I have often agreed with these commentators, especially during the debate between President Thabo Mbeki and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I felt as a socialist that some of our movement's analyses were fuelled by unjustified insecurity.

However, your article "What if Zuma were president …" (February 11) dealt a serious blow to the agenda of those like Tutu who want more critical debate within ANC structures. You gave yourself a right to try and convict Comrade Jacob Zuma, even though former National Prosecuting Authority boss Bulelani Ngcuka could not find sufficient evidence to do so.

By denigrating Zuma in this manner, you confirmed in the minds of many that the M&G is part of the "elite" we've been warned about. I doubt if the author of the article knows Zuma very well or his role in the ANC during the liberation struggle and in government. Your article uses evidence presented by the prosecution in the Schabir Shaik trial to make a case against Zuma's candidacy for the presidency when Mbeki steps down.

By launching this negative campaign against Zuma four years before the next elections, you have unwittingly mobilised ANC voters behind him. Many will be of the type Tutu correctly referred to as uncritical and sycophantic. But who can blame ANC activists if they close ranks and promote Zuma as the only candidate to lead the ANC and South Africa, when the old enemy - the predominantly white, neo-liberal media - launched an anti-Zuma campaign?

The reckless actions of the media, including the M&G, have effectively closed the little space there was for sober-minded ANC members to analyse and debate the succession issue. You have opened the way for the likes of youth league president Fikile Mbalula and Smuts Ngonyama to make a final pronouncement on this matter, and given them all the ammunition they need to associate dissenting voices with an anti-ANC "elite".

I support unconditionally the rights of a free press in South Africa. But your choice of strategy was weak. Zuma commands incredible respect as a leader in most structures of the ANC-led alliance, among the masses and on the African continent. He is also a hero to millions of South Africans.

Because of your approach to the succession issue, he is now more than likely to become president, with an army of sycophants. That does not bode well for our democracy.

With acknowledgements to L. Nogcinisa and the Mail & Guardian.