Spat Between Tutu and Mbeki Continues

The spat between Archbishop Desmond Tutu and South African President Thabo Mbeki has taken another turn with the ANC issuing a statement saying "Neither the ANC nor its President regards [Tutu] as 'a liar with scant regard for the truth', but we do recognise that even someone like [Tutu] has the capacity to err." This was in response to an earlier statement by Tutu in which he'd thanked the president "for telling me what you think of me" and said he would pray for the president.

Tutu's statement had been in response to the Letter from the President of 26 November in which Mbeki had commented on things Tutu had raised when he gave this year's Nelson Mandela Lecture. In this letter Mbeki said, among many other things, that "The Archbishop has never been a member of the ANC, and would have very little knowledge of what happens even in an ANC branch. How he comes to the conclusion that there is 'lack of debate' in the ANC is most puzzling." Read Letter from the President of 26 November...

In a further twist, the spokesperson for the DA, Helen Zille, compared Mbeki's remarks to the kind PW Botha used to make, saying "It is a very poor reflection on the post-apartheid government that it is using exactly the same tactics in an attempt to silence him." Read report on News24.com...