This month marks one of the most troubling anniversaries of South Africa's post-apartheid history. On the 21st of September, five years ago, Thabo Mbeki was forced to resign as President of South Africa, a mere nine months before his second term of office expired. He did so following a deeply flawed judgment by Chris Nicholson on the pending trial of Mbeki's rival for the presidency, Jacob Zuma, and this judgement implicated Mbeki in political interference in the trial.The Nicholson judgement unleashed havoc in the country's elite politics, and paved the way for Zuma's rise to power. While the removal of Mbeki did not amount to a coup d'etat, as his former Director-general, Frank Chikane, has alleged, Mbeki's removal was an ill-founded move made with unseemly haste. It led to people perceived to be Mbeki's supporters being purged en masse from institutions like the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with scant attention being paid to fair procedure.The ANC clutched at what quickly turned out to be straws to declare a loss of confidence in Mbeki. No apology was forthcoming when the Nicholson judgment was overturned, and clearly there was a strong likelihood that this would happen as the judgment was flawed even to a layperson.__Had Mbeki waited for the appeal that overturned the Nicholson judgement, which is what should have been allowed to happen, then he would most likely have seen out his term. He probably would not have served a third term as ANC president, but a more orderly change of guard could have taken place.
Yet many were only too happy to see Mbeki go. By that stage, he had become the face of neo-liberal government in South Africa.__In this regard, some mainstream commentators maintain that Mbeki left behind a successful economic legacy, arguing that he stabilised the country's economy and laid the basis for more expansionary policies. Recently, Ray Hartley credited Mbeki with creating the macro-economic space needed to increase infrastructure spending and roll out social grants. By 2008, Hartley claimed that the much-hated Growth, Employment and Redistribution Plan (GEAR) was 'background noise', and that growth was state-led. This meant that Mbeki was removed for self-serving and not substantive reasons.This take on Mkebi's legacy is debateable. Because much of the infrastructure that was rolled out operated on a cost recovery basis, millions found themselves with access to water, electricity and infrastructure networks, but without the income necessary to remain connected to the networks. During the GEAR years, many local governments were forced into self-sufficiency when they did not command the tax bases necessary to support them, leading to service delivery crises that bedevil them to this day. Both these factors meant that for many South Africans, GEAR still operated very much in the foreground of their lives when Mbeki was removed, and in fact still does to this day.Furthermore, some of the infrastructure expansion that took place involved ill-advised mega-developments and vanity projects, leading to distorted infrastructure development.
