Mbeki responds to SARS Wars
The so-called 'SARS Wars' has widened its net, with former president Thabo Mbeki the latest to also be mentioned.
The Thabo Mbeki Foundation on Friday said the former president would not comment on reports alleging that he knew about the so-called rogue spy unit with SARS, when Mbeki was president.
According to the foundation no organ of state has formally briefed Mbeki on the allegations, so it would be unwise for him to comment.
"Suffice it to say that the abiding socio-economic challenges that our country faces are glaringly obvious and well known to all of us. They require the focused attention of all sectors of our leadership as indeed all South Africans."
"Taking our eyes off the challenges, dragging one another's names in the mud, creating all manner of scarecrows and absurd theatrical sideshows will not help our country - our rhetoric notwithstanding," the foundation said.