Fikile Mbalula, the Secretary General of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), has prevented Zimbabwean academic Dr. Ibbo Mandaza from giving a public lecture.
Mbalula stopped the O.R. Tambo School of Leadership at Wits University from hosting Dr. Mandaza’s lecture, which was focused on the state of democracy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with a particular emphasis on Zimbabwe’s national elections.
In an email sent to the university on Wednesday, Mbalula explained that Dr Mandaza’s lecture would disrupt private discussions between the ANC and Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF. Notably, Mbalula is currently in Zimbabwe and has shared pictures on social media of himself with top ZANU-PF officials.
The lecture had originally been scheduled for September 7th at the university.
Fikile Mbalula’s Full Statement Blocking Dr. Ibbo Mandaza
Here is the full statement:
Further to our telephonic discussion.
We note that the OR Tambo School has advertised a public lecture to be delivered by Ibbo Mandaza on The State of Democracy in the SADC Region: A Reflection on the National Elections of Zimbabwe on Thursday, 7 September 2023 (invitation attached).
The OR Tambo School of Leadership has a proud tradition of promoting vigorous debate within the ranks of the movement. This must be encouraged. Whilst we respect the institutional autonomy of the School, it is also true that, in the public mind, domestically and internationally, it is inextricably linked to the ANC. Furthermore, the lecture is billed as a collaborative effort between the School and the ANC Johannesburg Region. This clearly constitutes an ANC ptaform.
At the moment the leadership of the ANC is engaged in a number of delicate engagements regarding the situation in Zimbabwe. In this context, a public lecture, at this time, on what is clearly an ANC platform, would complicate these initiatives.
It is in this context that we have requested that the lecture should not proceed on Thursday, 7 September 2023.
We invite you to engage with us further on the detail of these matters, and the possibility of the lecture being held in future, in a different format, and on a different platform.
Source iHarare
