CAPE TOWN, Oct 25, 2007 (AFP) - South African presidential hopeful Tokyo Sexwale launched an outspoken attack on the government's record on AIDS and crime Thursday as a battle for the leadership of the ruling ANC intensified.
Sexwale, a former premier of the largest province Gauteng, also lamented the perceived abuse of state security and intelligence services under President Thabo Mbeki, a culture of fear and sycophancy among ANC members and a party split on the succession issue.
At a speech in Cape Town, Sexwale denied he was actively aiming for the top job when the African National Congress convenes in December to elect its new leadership but acknowledged he had been asked to run.
"In the ANC, you cannot stand because you do not have a platform. You cannot run, there is no track," said Sexwale.
He confirmed he was being lobbied and maintained he would let the party nomination process, currently underway, determine the short list.
"I am not running, but rest assured that I am not running away," said Sexwale, who received warm applause from the mainly white audience.
On AIDS, Sexwale said it had taken the government too long to make free anti-retroviral drugs broadly available and time was wasted debating the science of AIDS while people died.
"HIV causes AIDS. Which tyrant will stop me from saying that?" he asked, in apparent reference to accusations that Mbeki and his health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang dabble in denialist theories.
"When there is a fire, you don't discuss the theory of combustion. You pick up a bucket full of sand or water and you fight the fire," said Sexwale.
He listed numerous flaws in South Africa's criminal justice system, saying the fight against crime required political will, well-paid and well-trained police, and effective punishment.
"I didn't fight this hard and this long against the crime of apartheid to hand this (country) over to criminals on the street," said Sexwale, a former prisoner alongside Nelson Mandela on Robben Island.
Sexwale, who was once accused of plotting to overthrow Mbeki, said there was a culture of fear among ANC members and a practice of abusing the country's security services for political gains.
Mbeki steps down as South African president in 2009, but can contest a third term as leader of the ANC in December -- a position also believed to be coveted by Sexwale and ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma.
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