Zuma fans flames in the ANC with ‘spy’ allegations
The former president is creating a rift in the party with accusations that some members were apartheid spies, but analysts agree it is an attempt to deflect attention.
Day 2 of former President, Jacob Zumas testimony at the State Capture Commision in Parktown, 16 July 2019. Picture Neil McCartney
If Jacob Zuma’s claims against former comrades are true, he has exposed himself as a poor leader with bad judgment to appoint people he knew were alleged apartheid spies into his Cabinet, or they may simply be lies meant to deflect from the allegations he is facing.
And while it may do nothing to prove his own innocence, it could muddy the waters, and has already led to members of his own party questioning each other’s loyalty.
Political analyst Dr Somadoda Fikeni yesterday said Zuma’s failure to warn the ANC that one of its leading officials and the speechwriter of the organisation’s late president Oliver Tambo was on the payroll of the apartheid authorities was mind-boggling and showed that he was a poor head of intelligence.
Zuma shocked all when he claimed at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that Ngoako Ramatlhodi, who was Tambo’s speech writer in exile, and later did the same job for Nelson Mandela after his release from jail, was recruited as an apartheid spy when he was a student at Roma University in Lesotho.
He named a few others, including former SA National Defence Force chief, General Siphiwe Nyanda.
Both Ramatlhodi and Nyanda have denied the allegations, with Ramatlhodi challenging Zuma to a public lie detector test to determine the veracity of his allegations.
Fikeni asked if Ramatlhodi was an apartheid spy, why did Zuma, as ANC intelligence chief, fail to warn the ANC or even Tambo about it.
“A person who spent most of his life in intelligence, their level of trust is always very low. He may be relying on conspiracy theories and believing in them. It doesn’t matter whether those were true or not,” Fikeni said.
He said labelling people as spies emanated from disinformation that was deliberately spread by apartheid authorities against certain comrades.
He recalled how leaders including Bulelani Ngcuka, Steve Biko, Robert Sobukwe, Cyril Ramaphosa and even Zuma himself were once accused of being apartheid spies, but there was never any substance to the claims.
“It’s well known that the apartheid intelligence operated at two levels – they infiltrated the political organisations and recruited some of their members as spies.
“At the same time, they also dispensed disinformation to say people were apartheid spies, just to sow an air of suspicion among comrades to make them fight among themselves,” Fikeni said.
It was unbelievable that Zuma would appoint some of these leaders into his Cabinet. Ramatlhodi was minister of mineral resources and later of public service and administration before he was fired by Zuma, while Nyanda was minister of communications under Zuma before being sidelined.
“You ought to be questioning why, when these people supported him, they were good. But when they oppose him they suddenly become spies,” Fikeni said.
Another analyst, Professor Andre Duvenhage said this was part of Zuma’s survival tactic.
“He is fighting to keep himself out of jail. Also, there is an element of some revenge against those who either dropped him or are now working against him,” Duvenhage said.
He appointed the so-called “spies” into his Cabinet because at the time he needed them.
“It was a pragmatic move then, but now that some of them have changed sides and are working against him, it’s time to fight back,” said Duvenhage.
– ericn@citizen.co.za
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