Kgalema Motlanthe

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His Excellency
Kgalema Motlanthe
Motlanthe in 2009
3rd President of South Africa
In office
25 September 2008 – 9 May 2009
DeputyBaleka Mbete
Preceded byThabo Mbeki
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri (Acting)
Succeeded byJacob Zuma
6th Deputy President of South Africa
In office
9 May 2009 – 26 May 2014
PresidentJacob Zuma
Preceded byBaleka Mbete
Succeeded byCyril Ramaphosa
8th Deputy President of the African National Congress
In office
18 December 2007 – 18 December 2012
PresidentJacob Zuma
Preceded byJacob Zuma
Succeeded byCyril Ramaphosa
14th Secretary-General of the African National Congress
In office
18 December 1997 – 18 December 2007
Preceded byCyril Ramaphosa
Succeeded byGwede Mantashe
Additional offices
1991-present
Chairperson of the
Member of the National Assembly of South Africa
In office
May 2009 – May 2014
In office
May 2008 – September 2008
2nd Secretary-General of the National Union of Mineworkers
In office
June 1991 – 1998
PresidentJames Motlatsi
Preceded byCyril Ramaphosa
Succeeded byGwede Mantashe
Personal details
Born
Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe

(1949-07-19) 19 July 1949 (age 74)
South African
Political partyAfrican National Congress
Spouses
(m. 1975; div. 2014)
Gugu Mtshali
(m. 2014)
Children3
Occupation
  • Politician
  • trade union leader
  • military veteran
  • anti-apartheid activist
Nicknames
  • Mkhuluwa
  • the Wizard
Military service
Allegiance
Umkhonto We Sizwe
Years of service1977–1987

Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe (Sotho pronunciation: [ˈkxɑ.le.mɑ mʊ.ˈtɬʼɑ.n.tʰɛ];[1] born 19 July 1949) is a South African politician who served as the third president of South Africa from 25 September 2008 to 9 May 2009, following the resignation of Thabo Mbeki. Thereafter, he was deputy president under Jacob Zuma from 9 May 2009 to 26 May 2014.

Raised in

Alexandra, Motlanthe was recruited into UMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), after he finished high school. Between 1977 and 1987, he was imprisoned on Robben Island under the Terrorism Act for his anti-apartheid activism. Upon his release, he joined the influential National Union of Mineworkers, where he was general secretary between 1992 and early 1998. After the end of apartheid, he ascended from the trade union movement to the national leadership of the ruling ANC, serving as ANC secretary general from late 1997 to late 2007. He was elected ANC deputy president, on a slate aligned to Zuma, by the ANC's 2007 Polokwane conference. In mid-2008, he was sworn in as a Member of Parliament and as Mbeki's second Minister in the Presidency
– his first job in government.

Only weeks later, on 25 September 2008, Parliament elected him national president after Mbeki resigned at the ANC's request. Motlanthe was widely understood to be a compromise candidate and to be leading a caretaker administration until the 2009 national election. During his seven and a half months as president, he appeared to prioritise stability and continuity with the policies of the previous administration. However, on his first day in office, he replaced Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang with Barbara Hogan, effecting a break with Mbeki's HIV/AIDS policy, which had been criticised as ineffective and driven by denialism. He also made controversial changes at the National Prosecuting Authority, dismissing the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Vusi Pikoli, and assenting to legislation which disbanded the Scorpions, an elite anti-corruption unit.

Zuma was elected president in May 2009, and Motlanthe was appointed his deputy. In December 2012, under pressure from Zuma's opponents, he contested the ANC presidential elections at the party's Mangaung conference. Zuma, the incumbent, won in a landslide. Motlanthe declined to seek re-election to the ANC National Executive Committee, and had already declined a nomination for re-election as ANC deputy president. Having thus vacated the party leadership, he resigned from government and from Parliament in May 2014, at the end of his term as national deputy president.

Variously and at various times perceived as an ally of each of the other living presidents – Mbeki, Zuma, and his trade union colleague Cyril Ramaphosa – Motlanthe was reputed to be "a highly skilled political operator" by the time he became president.[2][3] However, he has always kept a low public and political profile. He is seen as holding broad respect in the ANC, and is frequently characterised as one of its preeminent "left-leaning intellectual[s]."[2][4][5][6]

Early life and career

Motlanthe was born on 19 July 1949 to a family in

St John's College and later for Anglo American, and his mother, Masefako Sophia Madingoane (d. 2014),[11] was a domestic worker and then a machinist in a clothing factory.[7][9]: 6  He has two younger brothers, Tlatlane Ernest and Lekota Sydney.[9]
: 3 

He attended Pholosho Primary School, an Anglican missionary school in Alexandra, until his family was forcibly removed to Meadowlands, Soweto.[9]: 8  In 1964, the Anglican church awarded him a bursary to study in Swaziland, but the Bantu Affairs Department of the apartheid government denied him permission to leave the country.[9]: 16  He therefore attended Orlando High School in Soweto,[7] and he played soccer as a teenager.[9]: 14 [12]

He has said that the Anglican church was an important influence on his early development, especially the

altar boy and considered becoming a priest.[7][9]: 14  In later years, he was influenced by Black Consciousness.[13][9]

Early political career

After Matric (which in South Africa means completing final year of high school), Motlanthe got a job, which he held until his arrest, supervising township liquor stores in the commercial unit of the Johannesburg City Council.[7]

During this period, in the 1970s, he was recruited into the underground of UMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), which had been banned in South Africa since 1960. His MK unit was initially concerned with recruitment but was later instructed to form a sabotage unit and to help smuggle MK cadres in and out of the country's borders.[8][9] It was during this period that he first met Jacob Zuma, also an underground MK operative.[10]

Imprisonment

In April 1976, Motlanthe was arrested and detained for several months at John Vorster Square police station.[8] He was found guilty under the Terrorism Act on charges relating to his MK activities – specifically, for having been trained to commit sabotage, for having received explosives for that purpose, and for promoting the ANC[12] – and was sentenced to prison.[7][9]: 28 

Motlanthe was imprisoned on Robben Island for almost ten years, between August 1977 and April 1987.[7][9] ANC stalwart Andrew Mlangeni, who was on Robben Island with Motlanthe, later said that he was instrumental in welcoming and providing political education to young prisoners, who arrived on the island in large numbers in the decade after the 1976 Soweto uprising.[14]

Five years after his release, Motlanthe spoke about the solidarity forged in prison, and described the period as "enriching":

...we were a community of people who ranged from the totally illiterate to people who could very easily have been professors at universities. We shared basically everything, every problem even of a personal nature we discussed with others and a solution would be found. The years out there were the most productive years in one's life, we were able to read, we read all the material that came our way, took an interest in the lives of people even in the remotest corners of this world. To me those years gave meaning to life.[7]

Trade union career

The very first meeting we had, I was struck by his analytical capabilities and powers and by his disciplined approach to everything. Here was someone who had great dignity and humility.

— Ramaphosa recalls meeting Motlanthe in 1987[9]: 77 

In June 1987, shortly after his release from prison, Motlanthe became an education officer at the influential National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which was then led by Cyril Ramaphosa.[7][9] He had been familiar with the mining industry since his childhood – his father and both his brothers had worked for mining giant Anglo American[7] – and his mother had been involved in the trade union movement before her retirement in the 1980s.[10] At the NUM, Motlanthe furthered his interest, born on Robben Island, in political education.[7][9]: 88  He joined the NUM weeks before the largest strike in its history,[15] and Ramaphosa later said that he had "joined us at just the right time."[9]: 80 

While at the NUM, he remained a member of the ANC, and also of the South African Communist Party (SACP).[7][9]: 91  He was chairperson of the ANC's PWV (now Gauteng) region for a brief period, between early 1990, when the ANC was unbanned, and September 1991, when he stepped down to concentrate on his NUM work.[12] Shortly afterwards, Ramaphosa left the NUM to become secretary general of the ANC. In January 1992, with Ramaphosa's endorsement, Motlanthe was elected by the NUM central committee to replace him as acting general secretary.[9]: 78 

Rise to the presidency

ANC headquarters Luthuli House, where Motlanthe worked from 1997 to 2007.

ANC secretary general

At the ANC's 50th National Conference in December 1997, Motlanthe was elected unopposed as ANC secretary general, reportedly with the support of senior ANC leaders including Walter Sisulu and Nelson Mandela.[16] According to senior NUM and SACP official Frans Baleni, Mandela (affectionately known as Madiba) advocated for Motlanthe's appointment as follows:

Madiba ended up telling us a story of a young man from a rural village who was looking for a wife. He travelled from one village to another but he could not find one. However, when he arrived back home he saw that he had a neighbour who matched all the criteria he had in mind. In that way, Mandela told us that that the secretary general the ANC needed was right here and in the same way that the man was looking for a wife the ANC was looking for a bride.[9]: 367 

His appointment was evidently popular with the rank-and-file: according to Richard Calland, when it was announced, he was carried to the stage on the shoulders of supporters, and "it took another 15 minutes for him to reach the stage, struggle songs filling the air."[17]: 128 

After the conference, Motlanthe resigned from the NUM and from the

cadre deployment and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies.[12][22]

According to Mbeki's biographer Mark Gevisser, for much of this period Motlanthe was viewed as an "Mbeki acolyte"[23]: 336  – or, in another phrase, as "dominated by Mbeki."[24]

Their alliance apparently began in the mid-1990s when Mbeki was deputy president and Motlanthe was invited to attend the so-called "Under the Tree" meetings at Mbeki's home. He had been identified as one of the key leftist leaders who was dissatisfied with the new

Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) policy, and he later told Gevisser that, at the meetings, Mbeki had indeed managed to sway his position on GEAR.[23]
: 250–251 

Criticism of BEE

In October 2004, in a speech to the Black Management Forum, Motlanthe delivered what was perceived as "an attack" on BEE, a cornerstone of the ANC's economic and transformation policy.[25] In an early show of support for "broad-based" BEE, he called out fronting, proposed a "frank and open" assessment of why BEE's effects had been limited, and suggested that BEE should drive economic growth instead of hindering it.[26][27]: 3 

Most controversially, Motlanthe argued that BEE should be restructured to limit the benefits (the number of deals or their total value) incurred by individuals from BEE transactions. Once an individual had been enriched by BEE, he said, he or she should no longer be considered historically disadvantaged in the sense of being eligible for BEE benefits.[28]: 177  In his words, the government might "limit one person to one empowerment."[29] His rationale was that the narrow base of BEE beneficiaries limited the success of the current policy, which he said had been characterised by transfer of wealth instead of genuine economic transformation.[26][30][31] This was particularly controversial because many of the individuals who comprised that narrow base of BEE beneficiaries were ANC stalwarts or donors.[26][32]

Hoax email scandal

Towards the end of Motlanthe's time as secretary general, the so-called hoax email scandal broke. The scandal revolved around a cache of emails that were released to journalists in 2005, shortly after Mbeki had fired Zuma as national deputy president. The emails ostensibly showed a group of ANC politicians and government officials discussing how to discredit Zuma, who was Mbeki's major political rival, and Motlanthe himself.[33] An investigation by the intelligence inspector-general confirmed that the emails were fake, but Motlanthe reportedly rejected this conclusion and, in a meeting of the ANC National Executive Committee, demanded that the ANC conduct an internal investigation.[34][35][36] From early 2006, there were rumours, denied by the ANC, that the saga had "damaged personal relations and destroyed trust" between Motlanthe and Mbeki.[23]: 336 [33][37][38][39] The Mail & Guardian said that it had also hurt Motlanthe's "image of being 'above the fray.'"[22]

[T]he question that we must answer is where is the ANC?… When elected leaders at the highest level openly engage in factionalist activity, where is the movement that aims to unite the people of South Africa for the complete liberation of the country from all forms of discrimination and national oppression? When money changes hands in the battle for personal power and aggrandizement, where is the movement that is built around a membership that joins without motives of material advantage and personal gain?… When lists favoured by a chosen grouping are rammed down the throats of branches, without the benefit of political discussion, where is the ANC?

— Motlanthe's report to the Polokwane conference, 17 December 2007[21]

ANC deputy president

On 18 December 2007, the ANC's 52nd National Conference, held in Polokwane, elected Motlanthe deputy president of the ANC. He beat Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma comfortably, receiving 61.9% of the vote.[40] His last act as secretary general was to deliver a memorable organisational report to the conference, criticising various wings of the party and especially the outgoing National Executive Committee, which he said had failed to resolve problems relating to factionalism and branch-level fraud.[41][42][43]

The conference also saw incumbent ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma elected to the ANC presidency, deposing Mbeki in the culmination of a bitter leadership contest. There is debate about the extent of Motlanthe's role in Zuma's success. Motlanthe later condemned the practice of voting for candidates on slates, saying that he had held "as far back as Polokwane" that it was harmful to internal democracy in the party.[44][45] Nevertheless, it is understood that Motlanthe ran on the Zuma-aligned slate of candidates,[45][39] with Dlamini-Zuma as Mbeki's preferred candidate,[46] though he was also at the top of the pro-Mbeki camp's list of recommended candidates for the National Executive Committee.[47] Political analyst Susan Booysen claims that Zuma and Motlanthe had fallen out over Mbeki's handling of the Oilgate scandal and hoax email scandal, and suggests that Motlanthe used his detailed knowledge of the ANC's branches to help engineer Zuma's campaign – to the extent that he "co-directed" the mobilisation against Mbeki.[48][39] Similarly, Alec Russell of the English Financial Times reported that Motlanthe had fallen out with Mbeki and was aligned to Zuma in the Zuma-Mbeki rivalry.[19] Chris McGreal of the English Guardian said that he "played a leading role in ousting Mbeki and installing Zuma."[49]

On the other hand, local journalist Ranjeni Munusamy claims that Motlanthe did not take a clear position in favour of either candidate until the conference itself,[50] and that, as secretary general, he was focused on "trying to hold things together" and "had to rise above the camp warfare."[51] He was certainly involved in attempting to maintain discipline during the conference – on the first day, he confiscated partisan placards from some delegates and took the stage to restore order when the session devolved into shouting from Zuma supporters.[19][52] Ebrahim Harvey later said that his "open, frank and courageous report and interventions increased [his] stature in the party,"[53] and Gevisser agrees that he was "the hero of Polokwane."[23]: 336 

Cabinet minister

In the aftermath of the Polokwane conference, Mbeki remained national president, although he was likely to be replaced at the expiry of his term by Zuma, who was expected to be the ANC's presidential candidate in the 2009 national election. Motlanthe, on good terms with both factions, was viewed as a key figure in easing the transition between Mbeki and Zuma, and sources said that he had been lined up to take over Zuma's post if the latter was convicted on the corruption charges pending against him.[19][3]

In March 2008,[48] the newly elected ANC national executive asked Mbeki to appoint Motlanthe to his cabinet. At that point, Motlanthe was effectively unemployed, having vacated the full-time position of secretary general; and the appointment was intended to facilitate the transfer of power from Mbeki's administration to Zuma and also to Motlanthe himself, who had never served in government before but who was expected to become national deputy president in 2009.[54][55] Both Mbeki and Motlanthe were initially opposed to this proposal, with Motlanthe later explaining that he had thought his appointment to cabinet would have been "setting a wrong precedent, which says that once you have been elected at conference into a leadership position you have the right to be accommodated in the government."[9]: 243 

Nevertheless, he was sworn in as a Member of Parliament on 20 May 2008, filling a casual vacancy,[56] and on 18 July was sworn in as a member of cabinet.[57] He was appointed the second Minister in the Presidency (Essop Pahad was the first), as well as Leader of Government Business.[58][59][60] He later joked that he had been told that the appointment was apt because he was interested in business – the Leader of Government Business does not actually deal with business in the sense of enterprise, but rather coordinates between Parliament and cabinet.[61] By the time of his appointment, and thereafter, Motlanthe was viewed as Zuma's "right-hand man."[3][62]

Election to the presidency

Ultimately, Motlanthe served as a minister for just over two months. On 20 September 2008, Mbeki announced his resignation from the presidency. He had been "recalled" by the ANC national executive following allegations that the criminal corruption charges against Zuma were the result of political interference by Mbeki.[63] As a party-political body, the National Executive Committee did not technically have the authority to remove Mbeki from government office, but it could have instructed the ANC-controlled Parliament to remove him. In the same way, it could ensure the ascension of its presidential successor of choice, who would be indirectly elected by Parliament. On 22 September, while the resignation was still being formalised, Zuma said that the ANC would not confirm its choice until after the vote, but hinted to the press that it was Motlanthe, saying, "I am convinced, if given that responsibility, he would be equal to the task."[49] However, Baleka Mbete, the incumbent Speaker of the National Assembly and an ally of Zuma, was also viewed as a possible candidate.[39][32]

On 25 September 2008, Parliament elected Motlanthe President of South Africa by secret ballot. Having been nominated by ANC MP Ben Turok,[64] he received 269 votes, against 50 votes for the opposition candidate, Joe Seremane of the Democratic Alliance (DA), with 41 ballots spoilt.[65] He was sworn in the same day.

Presidency (2008–2009)

Motlanthe with Indian President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi, 15 October 2008.

Inauguration

Backbenchers at the parliamentary session which elected Motlanthe sang pro-Zuma songs,[66] but it was reported that his appointment had broad support within the ANC and in the business community,[67] and even among opposition parties.[68] In Parliament, opposition politician Pieter Mulder of the Freedom Front Plus alluded to the possibility that Motlanthe might come to challenge Zuma's dominance:

To Mr Zuma I want to tell a story. Two Afrikaners in the olden days were on their way with a wagon and eight oxen. That evening they unharnessed the oxen and went to sleep in the bush next to the road. At midnight they heard lions roaring around the camp. Quickly and anxiously they harnessed the oxen and dashed away. When the sun came up that morning they saw that in their haste they had harnessed seven oxen and one of the lions. The two looked at each other and said: 'it was easy to hastily harness the lion in the dark, but how do we now unharness it again?'
The ANC harnessed Mr Motlanthe as a lion today in the dark and current crisis and we wish him well with that. Does the ANC also know how to unharness a lion, should it be necessary?[69]

Mine is not the desire to deviate from what is working. It is not for me to reinvent policy. Nor do I intend to reshape either cabinet or the public service. In a

turbulent global economy
, we will remain true to the policies that have kept South Africa steady, and that have ensured sustained growth.

— Inaugural address, 25 September 2008[68]

In a speech after his inauguration, Motlanthe assured Parliament that there would be continuity with the policies of Mbeki's administration.[68] This was despite the fact that Mbeki's economic policies were unpopular with the left-wing pro-Zuma coalition, who thought them neoliberal. Motlanthe also announced his cabinet, having largely retained the composition of Mbeki's cabinet, and even having re-appointed several ministers, including respected finance minister Trevor Manuel, who had resigned after Mbeki's recall.[70][71][72] Mbete was appointed deputy president. The rand strengthened, after Mbeki's announcement had caused a steep fall in its value.[70] In Gevisser's view, Motlanthe "handled the transition deftly... projecting an image of calm confidence and continuity."[23]: 336 

He was president for seven and a half months, between 25 September 2008 and 9 May 2009. He gave his first and only State of the Nation address on 6 February 2009, and in his speech he, "as expected, refrained from announcing any new plans," given that an election was scheduled for later that year.[73]

HIV/AIDS policy

In the opinion of commentators, the most significant change made by Motlanthe to Mbeki's cabinet in September 2008 was the removal of

antiretroviral drugs.[75][76][77]

Motlanthe with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Brazilian President Lula da Silva at the third IBSA Dialogue Forum
in October 2008. IBSA was an initiative of the Mbeki government.

Before this, Motlanthe's stance on HIV/AIDS had been more ambiguous. On some accounts, while secretary general he supported, or at least defended, Mbeki's widely discredited HIV/AIDS policy,[12][78][22] and also while secretary general he had spearheaded the ANC's attacks on the Medicines Control Council when it refused to allow the testing of Virodene on human subjects in 1998, accusing the council of being swayed by corporate pharmaceutical interests.[79] In later years, however, including as deputy president, Motlanthe continued to advocate science-driven HIV/AIDS policy.[80][81]

Zimbabwe

Ahead of the 2005 Zimbabwean parliamentary election, Motlanthe had delivered what was considered the ANC's "first public criticism" of Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF regime in Zimbabwe.[82][83] However, he was ANC secretary general at the time, and was almost certainly speaking on behalf of the ANC national executive. In general, he was viewed as sympathetic to Mbeki's controversial and non-confrontational "quiet diplomacy" approach to the regime,[84] at least insofar as he appeared to share Mbeki's view that democratic change in Zimbabwe should not be externally imposed.[22]

Once inaugurated as president, Motlanthe asked Mbeki to remain in his role as mediator between ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change,[85] and his government "[threw] its weight behind" the resulting Zimbabwean power-sharing agreement.[86] Motlanthe, accompanied by Mbeki, met several times with Mugabe and Tsvangirai to try to convince them to implement the agreement and form a government.[87] He retained Mbeki's stance that Mugabe had to be installed at the head of any power-sharing arrangement,[88] but there were occasions on which he was critical of the ZANU-PF government.[89] His administration provided financial and diplomatic support to the Zimbabwean unity government when it was ultimately formed in February 2009.[86]

Corruption and law enforcement

Motlanthe with American President George Bush at the White House ahead of an economic summit, 14 November 2008.

Disbanding of the Scorpions