Xolela Mangcu
23 August 2007
column
Johannesburg — LAST week I suggested that our president had become jaded. The rapid sequence of the man's faux pas suggests that he may be wanting a way out, but no one is offering it.
The most common question people ask about Thabo Mbeki is how an obviously intelligent man could adopt such weird positions . How could he mortgage the country and his legacy to people such as Manto Tshabalala-Msimang? But the wheels have been coming off Mbeki's leadership for a while . We now hear, once again, that Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe could not be bothered with what Mbeki has to say.
But then it's hard to see these things when you are in the thick of them, and you are tired. The latest controversy involving our president goes beyond our borders, and if true could permanently damage our relationships with the rest of Africa . The row is over a congratulatory letter Mbeki allegedly wrote to French President Nicolas Sarkozy about a speech the latter gave at Cheick Anta Diop University in Senegal.
Apparently, Sarkozy delivered a racist speech about Africa and the history of African people, arguing that colonialism was not a crime against humanity and that it was in fact good for Africa. The French leader is reported to have said: "Africans have never really entered history. They have never really launched themselves into the future. In a world where nature controls everything, man has remained immobile in the middle of an unshakable order where everything is determined.
There is no room neither for human endeavour, nor for the idea of progress, the African peasant only knows the renewal of time, rhythmed by the endless repetition of the same gestures and the same words. In this imaginary world where everything starts over and over again, there is no place for human adventure or the idea of progress." How could the leader of a modern nation utter such ghastly goulash?
Everyone was shocked, and African leaders and intellectuals have made their voices known. So how could our president congratulate Sarkozy? In a letter leaked by the Elysee Palace and published in France's most prestigious newspaper, Le Monde, Mbeki is reported to have written these words: "What you have said in Dakar, Mr President, has indicated to me that we are fortunate to count you as a citizen of Africa, as a partner in the long struggle for a true African renaissance in the context of a European renaissance and a renaissance of the rest of the world."
I never thought the African renaissance was taking place within the context of a European renaissance.
Sarkozy is supposed to have reciprocated: "I am deeply touched that you took the time to read that speech. You have been kind enough to highlight the 'courage and truthfulness' of this speech. As you very well know, Africa needs truthful friends in order for her to meet the challenges she is facing."
Now I doubt the veracity of this. I cannot imagine how Mbeki - a man who spent his entire life fighting apartheid and colonialism -- would endorse such a racist repudiation of African history and experience. It makes no sense. I sincerely hope the letter attributed to Mbeki is not true and, if true, that he was being sarcastic. We urgently need clarification.
Was the Elysee Palace selectively leaking portions of this letter? Was there anywhere in the letter where Mbeki condemned Sarkozy for his remarks? Claims that this was private correspondence between Mbeki and Sarkozy will not suffice. Any compromise on colonialism as a crime against humanity would go against everything we fought for and everything the African National Congress (ANC) stood for all those decades.
The only way Mbeki can clear the air is by making the letter public and exposing the Elysee Palace for its dishonesty. If there is any truth to the letter, the ANC should conduct a high-level investigation and Mbeki should apologise to African people everywhere.
On a different matter, that titan of the African and African-American women's struggles, Angela Davis, will be speaking on Women and Public Leadership at the Wits Senate Room next Thursday at 5.30pm. Gender activist and scholar Nomboniso Gasa will lead the discussion.
Mangcu is executive chairman of the Platform for Public Deliberation, and a visiting scholar at the Public Intellectual Life Project at the University of the Witwatersrand.
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