The African National Congress is dismayed that the Mail & Guardian has chose to depict the move to the private sector of ANC secretary general Cyril Ramaphosa as a "last resort" - prompted by deputy president Thabo Mbeki's "move to consolidate his power".
The ANC rejects this suggestion with contempt.
The suggestion is demeaning to both Ramaphosa and Mbeki. Both have proven themselves as capable, loyal and disciplined members of the Afrian National Congress, who have at all times placed the interests of the organisation and of the country above their own personal interests.
It is a suggestion which has no basis in reality. It chooses to ignore the collective style of leadership which continues to characterise the ANC. Instead it postulates radical shifts in ANC politics based on nothing more than faceless "talk", 'concerns" and "anxieties" rumoured to be doing the rounds of the ANC caucus.
The ANC flatly rejects the claim that recent changes in the national cabinet, including the closure of the RDP office, were part of an exercise to strengthen the personal power of any individual. The decision to make the changes was President Nelson Mandela's, who exercised his prerogative in the best interests of the Government of National Unity and the nation.
If there are any trends which the Mail and Guardian article underscores it is the tendency of some sections of the media to elevate rumour, speculation and myth to the status of fact.
Issued by:
African National Congress
Dept of Information and Publicity
PO Box 61884
Marshalltown 2107
19 April 1995