SA minister to discuss thorny leaks with Clinton

Youth league doesn't 'give a damn' about WikiLeaks cables and denies claims

The embarrassing Wiki-Leaks revelations are set to dominate discussions when the Minister of International Relations, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, meets Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, tomorrow.

The release of the secret US diplomatic cables has infuriated the ANC and government officials, and it is understood Nkoana-Mashabane will express the ruling party's "dismay".

In the first leaks by the whistle-blower website, it was revealed that Nkoana-Mashabane referred to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a "crazy old man".

On Wednesday, the website revealed even more titillating information about the activities of ANC leaders, including a "secret" meeting between US diplomats and the youth league's Julius Malema, ahead of the ANC's Polokwane conference in 2007.

A spokesman for the Department of Interna-tional Relations said that, at tomorrow's meeting in Washington, progress on the SA-US Strategic Dialogue, meant to enhance partnership and co-operation, would be discussed.

He declined to comment on whether the WikiLeaks cables would be raised.

However, the Sunday Times was told by at least three officials in both the Presidency and the Department of International Relations that the cables would be raised, as they have had a negative impact on bilateral relations.

"The minister will raise the matter with the US secretary of state in order to get at least an apology about 'spying' on the ANC and some of its senior leaders, including former president Nelson Mandela," said an official from international relations.

"She will also try to seek clari-fication about future interaction among diplomats and security measures to be in place, because Clinton herself has said the leaks have made the diplomatic process more complex, especially for the US."

Another official said the Americans "ought to apologise ... because many leaders want to be comfortable that the US administration under President Barack Obama is not unhappy about the dominance of South African politics by the ANC - as was the case with George W Bush".

The leaked documents caused a stir with revelations of the meeting between Malema and US embassy staff.

In one of the cables, Malema - who was the youth league's Limpopo secretary at the time - discussed then-ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma's presidential campaign.

According to the cable: "Malema admitted that ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula did not want to support Zuma during the rape trial, but the Limpopo leadership insisted, arguing that if the youth league defended Zuma on corruption charges, they could defend him on rape charges, since both acts are immoral." Zuma was subsequently acquitted.

This week Mbalula said the US cables should "be condemned with all possible strong words available".

"The reality of the situation is that, whatever the interest of the Americans in the run-up to the ANC conference, the struggles we fought as the ANCYL were documented, and I am proud to say I led a special generation of youth leaders in the ANC."

Mbalula said he never doubted Zuma's innocence on charges of rape and corruption.

"Malema and other NEC members were vociferous, and upright, in the belief that Zuma is innocent, and that is the belief that was proven right by the court of law."

ANCYL spokesman Floyd Shivambu denied Malema had met US embassy officials.

"He (Malema) does not recall the meeting," said Shivambu.

"And in any case we don't care and don't give a damn about those WikiLeaks cables.

"The cables don't have impact on the society and our programmes. We have bigger things to focus on."

Asked to comment on a 2001 cable in which the US ambassador to Pretoria described former president Thabo Mbeki as "irrational", the former president's spokesman, Mukoni Ratshitanga, said: "We are not going to comment or say anything about the leaks."