South African President Mr Thabo Mbeki rounded on his anti-apartheid ally Archbishop Desmond Tutu for criticising the ruling ANC and its black economic empowerment (BEE) policies.
South African President Mr Thabo Mbeki
Delivering the annual Nelson Mandela lecture on Tuesday, Archbishop Tutu accused Mr Mbeki's African National Congress (ANC) of promoting "kowtowing" and said BEE policies were helping mainly a small black elite, not the poor majority.
"Factually, the assertion that all that BEE amounts to is benefiting 'a small elite that tends to be recycled' is entirely false," Mr Mbeki wrote in his weekly letter to ANC members.
"It would be good that those who present themselves as the greatest defenders of the poor should also demonstrate decent respect for the truth, rather than indecent resort to empty rhetoric," he said.
Long a thorn in the side of South Africa's former white regime, Archbishop Tutu has continued his spirited attacks on the perceived ills if Africa's black-led governments.
In May, Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe branded the Nobel Peace Prize laureate "an angry, evil and embittered little bishop" after Archbishop Tutu likened the veteran leader to an archetypal African dictator.
Archbishop Tutu used Tuesday's lecture to criticise what he said was a lack of debate in South Africa's ANC, saying "unthinking, uncritical, kowtowing party line-toeing is fatal to a vibrant democracy" - comments Mr Mbeki dismissed as ill-informed.
"The Archbishop has never been a member of the ANC, and would have very little knowledge of what happens even in an ANC branch. How he comes to the conclusion that there is 'lack of debate' in the ANC is most puzzling," Mr Mbeki wrote.
Archbishop Tutu criticised a lack of discussion about government policy towards neighbouring Zimbabwe, economic reform, poverty reduction and HIV/AIDS - which affects more South Africans than any other nation and has been a source of contention due to long delays in extending life-saving treatment to millions infected.
"I, for one, will join the public debate on any matter, exercising the same right that any other South African has, to speak out on matters of concern to the nation," Mr Mbeki said in his letter, which made no reference to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
"Together we must avoid the resort to populism and catchy newspaper headlines that have nothing to do with the truth and everything to do with the pursuit of self-serving agendas."