Winnie's behaviour was wrong: Mbeki

By M.S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, JUNE 23. Speaking for the first time about the very public brush-off he gave to Ms. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at the commemorative Youth Day rally in Orlando Stadium in Soweto on June 16, the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the Soweto uprising, the President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki accused the senior ANC leader and president of the ANC women's league of disruptive and disrespectful behaviour on what was a State occasion, not an ANC occasion. He also disclosed that Ms. Madikizela-Mandela had defied his orders not to come on the podium but instead take her seat with other dignitaries in front of the stage.

In that incident, Ms. Madikizela-Mandela who made a late entrance to welcoming ululating cries of her supporters, went up the podium and tried to greet Mr. Mbeki with a hug and a kiss. This was rudely rebuffed by Mr. Mbeki who pushed her away and in the process knocked her cap off. The whole incident was captured live on national television. The incident continues to be debated. It even figured during the debate on the budget vote of the Presidency on Thursday.

Mr. Mbeki addressed the issue for the first time in public at the very end of a one hour Q&A programme broadcast by the SABC nationally over radio and T.V. yesterday evening. The questions, sent in by listeners and viewers, dealt with various aspects of economy, government, service delivery, the crime situation, etc., and were supplemented by follow-ups by the two anchors.

The very last question asked by one of the anchors, summing up numerous questions on the same subject by the listeners and viewers, dealt with the contretemps on Youth Day. In response, Mr. Mbeki said: ``It was incorrect for anybody to arrive late and arrive in the manner that happened, because that was obviously going to be disruptive. I do not approve and I am not going to approve of behaviour that shows complete disrespect for anything and everything. It is not right. The disrespect shown for that occasion was not good. I clearly would have wanted to avoid interaction with her. But she comes on stage when I say she should not and then she marches up to me. We were listening to the chairperson of the National Youth Commission, and now I must stand up and be kissing and cuddling on a State occasion. It's wrong, it's wrong. It would never happened in any other country.''

Despite such categorical admonition in words, amplifying the physical brush-off, the incident is not going to go away. The general secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation, a vital ally in electoral battles, has expressed concern at the ANC statement accusing Ms. Madikizela- Mandela of trying to enjoin the President into her tomfoolery. Mr. Mbeki, the statement said, was only protecting himself from this caper.

This is not the first time that Ms. Madikizela-Mandela has drawn the ire of the ANC leadership. However, such reaction has always been tempered by an awareness of her undoubted mass appeal, in particular among the African poor as well as women. Ms. Madikizela-Mandela herself has frequently spoken of this support. For instance, during the last National Conference of the ANCWL in Rustenburg in April 1997, there were attempts by the ANC leadership to secure the election of a political rival of hers within the ANC Women's League as president of the League. To no avail, for Ms. Madikizela-Mandela won a decisive victory. In her fiery acceptance speech on that occasion, she took several swipes at the ANC Government, rubbing in the fact that persons within the ANC had tried to oust her without success.

Describing her re-election as an amazing vote of confidence, she mocked the media campaign against her fed by her opponents within the organisation as ``a pathetic attempt calculated to damage my election today.'' In the process, she drew a pointed contrast between ``the three per cent accessibility that the media had with the 8.5 million of my people in the squatter camps who cannot afford your costly newspapers, radios and T.V.''

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