AN angry snub by President Thabo Mbeki, who put his hand in the face of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela when she tried to greet him at a Youth Day celebration this weekend was on Sunday slammed by opposition parties.
The incident happened at Soweto’s Orlando Stadium, southwest of Johannesburg, on Saturday where Mbeki was due to address a rally on the South African public holiday.
Mbeki was shown on national SABC television, flicking his hand at the former wife of the country’s first president, Nelson Mandela, as she bent over to kiss and hug him.
The president seemed to be blocking off her kiss and knocked Madikizela-Mandela’s hat off her head before exchanging angry words with her in front of a crowd of about 5,000 people, according to the pictures shown.
Asked later what had transpired during the incident, Madikizela-Mandela said: “I think you better ask him (Mbeki),” the Sunday Times reported.
But opposition leader Tony Leon said Mbeki’s conduct was unbecoming as South Africa’s president.
“What a shocking example set by the president for the youth of South Africa on Youth Day, pushing and jostling an older woman shows terrible manners and disrespect,” Leon, who leads the Democratic Alliance in parliament.
“When this is done by the president, it is raised to another echelon,” Leon told the South African news agency SAPA.
Right-wing Afrikaner Eenheidsbeweging leader Cassie Aucamp said Mbeki should have behaved otherwise in public and his reaction was a disgrace to both himself and Madikizela-Mandela.
Relations between Mbeki and Madikizela-Mandela, African National Congress Woman’s League president, has soured since his election in 1999, and notably after a letter written by her to the country’s deputy president Jacob Zuma earlier this year.
In the letter, Madikizela-Mandela asked Zuma to intervene to restore relations between her and the president, claiming Mbeki had accused her of spreading damaging rumours about his personal life. The letter was leaked to the media. – AFP
ZA *NOW:
Winnie breaks silence on letter January 8, 2001
?Maligned? Winnie seeks Mbeki truce January 7, 2001
