Thabo Mbeki should account for HIV/Aids deaths: Corruption Watch

Civil organisation Corruption Watch has taken a jab at former president Thabo Mbeki over his piercing critique of the government and says he should acknowledge state capture and Aids denialism started during his era.

Mbeki made his remarks at the memorial service of Jessie Duarte, the ANC’s deputy secretary-general, when he took the opportunity to warn that broken promises could lead to a mass uprising in SA.

“When he speaks it seems to raise a lot of interest and almost some nostalgia in some quarters in an era where perhaps there was a sense that there was less corruption. I would like to see former president Mbeki acknowledge that state capture happened on his watch,” said Karam Singh, executive director of Corruption Watch.

“I would love to see officials and former ministers acknowledge Bosasa and the deaths from HIV/Aids that were avoidable.

“Let’s be clear that state capture didn’t start with Jacob Zuma and didn’t end with the passage of his regime, we know that with the PPE scandal,” Singh said at the corruption summit in Stellenbosch on Wednesday.

Singh said the history of corruption in Africa is historically intertwined with conflict, ongoing battles between military and political elites, or conflict over resources and state fragility.

He referred to the military coup in the Congo in the 1960s and the Mozambique hidden debt scandal, where successive presidents allegedly conspired with foreign banks and shipbuilding companies to set up suspect projects in exchange for large bribes.

The 2010-11 Arab Spring which occurred due to civil discontent also featured.

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