THE ANC AND RELIGION - PART 3
Today InsidePolitics brings you the third part of our series on the ANC and religion (third in a five part series). Having set the scene in parts one and two, we will now look at how religion manifests in - and is a helpful tool to explain - the politics of Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. We start with Mbeki. Again, just as a reminder, the five sections of this series follow below and, ultimately, they should all be read together.
1. Introduction
2. The ANC and Religion
3. Thabo Mbeki and the Truth
4. Jacob Zuma and God
5. Conclusion
The section on Jacob Zuma will follow tomorrow.
THE ONE TRUE CHURCH
By: Gareth van Onselen
Thabo Mbeki and the truth
“Truth does indeed have immense power; yet it remains extremely elusive. No single person, no body of opinion, no political or religious doctrine, no political party or government can claim to have a monopoly on truth. For that reason truth can be arrived at only through the untrammelled contest between and among competing opinions, in which as many viewpoints as possible are given a fair and equal hearing. It has therefore always been our contention that laws, mores, practices and prejudices that place constraints on freedom of expression are a disservice to society. Indeed these are the devices employed by falsehood to lend it strength in its unequal contest with truth.” [1] [Nelson Mandela]
“…for those among us who see themselves as agents of progressive change, complete and accurate knowledge, representing accurate understanding of objective reality, liberated from prejudice, false assumptions and propaganda, becomes an imperative and inalienable condition for the untrammelled but responsible exercise of the hard-won right to self-determination. We have the possibility and latitude and the necessity to speak thus because we live during our own age of revolution. Exactly because it is such an age, all of us face the demand to understand objective reality accurately and objectively, to enable the revolution to decide on the correct strategy, tactics and operations…Opponents of change see it as their obligatory task to falsify reality, in their interest.” [2] [Thabo Mbeki]
In November 2007 the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) released its annual South African Survey.[3] Among a great many other things, the survey found that “the number of people living on less than US$1 per day (the measure of extreme poverty used by the World Bank) in South Africa increased from 1.89 million in 1996 to 4.2 million in 2005”[4]. In layman’s terms, it found that more people were living in poverty in 2007, than did in 1996.
The report was met with outrage and contempt from the Presidency and President Mbeki in particular, who used an edition of his weekly newsletter - ANC Today - to attack, first, the SAIRR’s motives and, second, its research; as well as to provide a long and convoluted rebuttal.[5] It was also a response that initiated a substantial debate between the Presidency, the SAIRR and various other commentators in the country’s media.
At face value, it was a debate about statistics - which were correct and accurate and which were false and misleading - but, as is so often the case with the President, the real issue was what he saw beneath the surface: the motive and intent that informed the SAIRR’s decision to publish.
Tony Leon has said the following about<
| Posted on 17/6/2008
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