Publication: The Mercury Issued: Date: 2007-04-05 Reporter: Ron Legg

Mbeki Must Clean Up His Own Backyard First

 

Publication 

The Mercury
Date

2007-04-05

Reporter

 Ron Legg

Web Link

www.themercury.co.za

 

President Thabo Mbeki admirably warned of the dangers of corruption at a global conference on the subject in Johannesburg (The Mercury, April 3).

As the president of the ANC, his rhetoric would have carried more credibility if he was able to show what he had done to clean up the dirty backyard in his own political party.

The ANC needs to set the example first within its own ranks before their president can preach to the nations of the world on the rottenness of corruption.

The ANC is no longer a model of integrity.

It was Mbeki's party's leadership, which included the Speaker of the House, who carried the corrupt Tony Yengeni shoulder-high to prison after four years of delay.

It was Correctional Services Minister Ngconde Balfour who was there inside the prison to make Yengeni's stay comfortable, and his prison service that turned Yengeni's stay into a sick joke.

It was his party in parliament that dilly-dallied for years over the MPs who knowingly abused their travel allowances in the now infamous Travelgate scandal.

It is his party that has never come clean on Oilgate.

It is his party that has never been open about the arms deal scandal.

Look at how they treated their own, Andrew Feinstein, who was getting too close to the truth.

How can we believe you, Mr President?

Ron Legg
Hillcrest

With acknowledgements to Ron Legg and The Mercury.