Former president Thabo Mbeki this week penned a scathing open letter to DA leader John Steenhuisen, saying he would have found it logical for the DA to withdraw from the government of national unity (GNU).
Mbeki labelled Steenhuisen and DA federal council chair Helen Zille “arrogant” after the party’s decision to pull out of the national dialogue. In the 11-page letter, Mbeki said it was clear that the DA had serious problems with President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC concerning the functioning of the GNU after Ramaphosa removed deputy minister of trade, industry and competition Andrew Whitfield of the DA.
“It is also obvious that despite this you and the DA decided that you will not withdraw from the GNU and it is established that instead with the final straw ... you and the DA have decided not to participate in the national dialogue,” he said.
Mbeki criticised Zille’s statements that the dialogue was an ANC campaign strategy. He said the dialogue had absolutely nothing to do with Zille's “fertile imagination of an ANC's 2026 election campaign, or what you called an ANC-run national dialogue”.
Who would have thought the eminent pipe-smoking philosopher-president would one day have to take a brief break from retirement to write a “Dear John” letter? It was not quite the usual such letter — penned by one lover to ditch the other — but it did mark the end of a distant relationship between former president Thabo Mbeki and the DA.
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