Opinion & Analysis

To suggest that President Thabo Mbeki is somehow responsible for the death of comrade Chris Hani, as an unauthorised documentary insinuates, is extremely defamatory.

To knowingly include in an unauthorised documentary statements and/or insinuations that you know are false without giving a counter statement is malice of the highest order. The producers of the documentary know or ought to know who Hani’s killers are. If not, they have no business producing material for the general public.

I would encourage the president to sue whoever propagates such rubbish. It would then be up to the propagators to do the impossible — to prove that they believe their statements have been true. I also encourage comrade Jacob Zuma to sue whoever he feels has injured his image.

Most of the damaging statements in the media were about his private life, his sex life to be specific.

I have no problem with people “speaking truth to power” or commentators who are anti-African National Congress, anti-Mbeki or anti-Zuma. However, I have a big problem with cartoonists and commentators who have a total disregard for people’s rights.

Thembelani Kwetane, Weltevreden Park

Our president can run but he can’t hide. Almost a year ago, I watched as the Democratic Alliance announced that it had a copy of an encrypted fax which provided evidence that Thabo Mbeki had inappropriate contact with Thales during the arms deal bidding process.

The spokesperson on the standing committee on public accounts, Eddie Trent, was booted out of the chamber for asking the president to explain himself. Later the written question was disallowed — proving Parliament’s ineffectiveness as an organ for transparency.

Now, the heat is on: German investigators are scrutinising bribes paid out to a “top SA politician”.

Mbeki thinks he can conceal his shadowy involvement in the arms deal. He believes that if enough noise is made about Zuma’s sex life and business dealings then the spotlight will remain firmly off his besmirched face. He underestimates the South African public’s desire for truth.

We cannot be certain as to what the Germans, and ultimately us, will discover about the president’s arms deal activities. One thing is definite: sooner or later, it will all come out.

Alex Matthews, Cape Town

With acknowledgement to Thembelani Kwetane and Alex Matthews and Business Day.