ANTHONY BUTLER | Antagonists Mbeki and Zuma spar over anti-migrant politics
Former presidents’ rivalry shapes debate on xenophobia and national identity
First published in Business Day
12 June 2026
Former president Thabo Mbeki was born on June 18 1942. That makes him
83 years old. His successor and current MK party leader, Jacob Zuma, was
born on April 12 1942, making him 84. Next week Mbeki will catch up with
Zuma, as he has done every June 18 since the nation was blessed by his
arrival.
Both seem to be benefiting from the well-documented psychological
phenomenon of “competitive longevity” that describes how having a strong
purpose or goal can extend life. Elderly people may hold on through illness or
frailty to reach a meaningful milestone. Wanting to outlive a rival is a specific,
potent form of this drive.
A general desire to witness a rival’s decline or death is well-recognised
emotionally. However, for politicians the strongest “will to live” motivation
may be the drive to control the narrative of their time in office.
Long-serving politicians spend their later years defending their legacies by
writing memoirs, giving interviews and revisiting history. A living peer
complicates this reputational burnishing, since they can contest the subject’s
claims. Outliving a key rival means having the last word.
In the Mbeki-Zuma case this dynamic is particularly rich. They have
intertwined and contested legacies and genuine mutual animosity.
One current example concerns mobilisation against undocumented migrants
in South Africa. As president in 2009, Zuma denounced xenophobic attacks.
Sadly, today’s anti-migrant marches appear to be backed by MK. When it
called on supporters to march against undocumented migrants, many
responded.
MK has confirmed it has been engaging with protest group March and March, its secretary-general defending the movement for holding peaceful protests allowed by the constitution. A partnership between the MK party and March and March now seems to be on the cards ahead of the November 2026 local government elections.
For his part, Mbeki recently reminded citizens that the anti-apartheid struggle was fought by Africans across the continent who treated South Africa’s liberation as a collective mission. The growing wave of xenophobic sentiment ignores sacrifices made by African countries that sheltered exiles and stood behind the ANC during apartheid.
Politicians sometimes refuse to acknowledge their own failures because admission would damage the legacy they are psychologically invested in protecting.
Africa formed the centre of Mbeki’s presidential project after 1999, which resulted in the creation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the replacement of the Organisation of African Unity with the African Union, the establishment of the African peer review mechanism, and the inauguration of a Pan-African parliament. Hand-in-hand with Nigeria’s veteran leader, Olusegun Obasanjo, he advanced a developmentalist vision for the continent.
However, during Mbeki’s tenure, his stance on Zimbabwe proved his most consequential legacy. Under the rubric of “quiet diplomacy”, and amid accelerating land seizures, orchestrated state violence, systematic repression and currency collapse, Mbeki used conciliatory mediation in the hope of averting regional destabilisation — and perhaps to protect a fellow liberation movement.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai depicted Mbeki as a “dishonest broker”, and Mbeki’s refusal to confront Harare’s depredations sat uneasily beside his continental evangelism for governance reform. Most importantly, the haemorrhaging of Zimbabwe’s population fleeing state and economic collapse contributed to the combustible social terrain that produced the xenophobic conflagrations in South Africa that started in 2008.
Mbeki’s successors found themselves trapped in the contradiction that he created between an imperative of African fraternity abroad and an imported political volatility at home. However, in the spirit of competitive gerontocracy, Mbeki waded in with the observation that “Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa caused high levels of crime and unemployment, not illegal immigrants”.
In some respects it is heartwarming to discover that politicians like Mbeki and Zuma are still alive and kicking in their declining years. The trouble is that they are no longer just kicking each other.
• Butler teaches public policy at the University of Cape Town.
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