Mbeki’s brother lashes ‘fat cats’

JOHANNESBURG – The brother of South African president Thabo Mbeki lashed out at Africa’s political elite on Wednesday, saying that its plundering of resources has “left the continent worse off than in colonial times.”

Moeletsi Mbeki, the deputy chairman of the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA) think-tank in Johannesburg, accused African leaders “of taking their country’s resources and stashing them in Swiss bank accounts.” “The average African is poorer (now) than during the age of colonialism,” Mbeki was quoted as saying in a report in the Durban-based The Mercury newspaper following a speech delivered on Tuesday.”These political elites – and I am talking about those in power today – are not only having bank accounts, they are buying assets offshore and mansions in South Africa,” he told AFP.Mbeki singled out three African countries where that type of kleptocracy was widespread: Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and notably, Zimbabwe.Zimbabwe, Mbeki said, provided a “textbook example of the co-relation between falling standards of living of the population in sub-Saharan Africa and the growing power of political elites.”- Nampa-AFP”The average African is poorer (now) than during the age of colonialism,” Mbeki was quoted as saying in a report in the Durban-based The Mercury newspaper following a speech delivered on Tuesday.”These political elites – and I am talking about those in power today – are not only having bank accounts, they are buying assets offshore and mansions in South Africa,” he told AFP.Mbeki singled out three African countries where that type of kleptocracy was widespread: Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and notably, Zimbabwe.Zimbabwe, Mbeki said, provided a “textbook example of the co-relation between falling standards of living of the population in sub-Saharan Africa and the growing power of political elites.”- Nampa-AFP