Motlanthe
8 February 2009
Facilitator: Thabo Masebe, Presidential Spokesperson
Presenter: President Motlanthe
Venue: Tuynhuys, Cape Town
Facilitator: You now have an opportunity as media reporting on the matters
that concern the State and work that we do as government, so you could have an
opportunity to speak to the President about the issues contained in the State
of the Nation Address (SoNA). I assume that we've all had time to read or we
did listen on Friday when the SoNA was delivered and also had time to go
through the speech. So, there might be issues which you feel we could say more
about, give more details and so on, or explain.
This is really an opportunity for that. I know that previously, the only
chance media had to get more insight into the speech was through the interview
that we do with the public broadcaster, but we thought we should just create
this opportunity for you to ask a few questions, so we are here. We are not
going to make any speech now because the speech was delivered on Friday.
The President is here to answer your questions, so the format we would
really conduct it like an interview, its one question at a time. Who wants to
start?
Please, identify yourself and ask your question.
Journalist: Thank you very much. Thank you so much for the opportunity, Mr
President. I would like to cut directly to the issue of land reform if I may.
You spoke on land reform, you said that perhaps it had not gone as well as
anticipated. There are so many farmers in this country who have basically
agreed to land reform, the whole of Limpopo province, for instance, is
basically one big land reform situation.
Some farmers have been waiting as long as 11 and half years. What can you
say to these farmers practically? Because they cannot develop their farms and
basically they can't sell them, they're not worth much at the moment. How would
government practically better their lives given the situation that they find
themselves in?
President Motlanthe: Well, the land reform programme which is covered in the
current ANC manifesto is one of the priority areas, the aim being to improve on
food production and achieve food security. So the government would pay
attention to challenges such as water supply for irrigation purposes and ensure
that farmers are assisted with all the important requisites such as seeds and
equipment and implements. This will be a priority area in the overall struggle
or fight against poverty.
Journalist: Can you share with us when the election is going to be,
please?
President Motlanthe: Yes, I've had one session with the Independent
Electoral Commission (IEC), we've agreed tentatively on some dates. I still
have to consult the Premiers with regards to that. As soon as that is done, we
will make the announcement and that should be followed by a proclamation.
Journalist: Mr President, I know you are still waiting for the task team
which was called to respond to the global economic impact on South Africa. But
can you just share with us any rescue plans or to say what will be the thrust.
Surely, there's going to be discussions? But what will be the thrust? Will it
be saving jobs or retaining jobs? And if that's the case, do we have money? Are
we going to go into our contingency coffers?
President Motlanthe: Yes, indeed, the main thrust would be to try and save
jobs, as many jobs as we possibly can, and also to, through the Expanded Public
Works Programme (EPWP), create more jobs. You know, if you take our urban
areas, there's need for maintenance, actually, of bulk infrastructure. That
could be an opportunity to also create jobs for people in ensuring that there
is maintenance of road infrastructure in the public areas such as parks and so
on. And the Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are also to be roped in to
assist, where necessary.
The reason why we are not simply going to copy what you know the Americans
and the British are doing is because we have, in a sense as a developing
country, the opportunity to reposition the country in terms of investing in
infrastructure and so on. And we see that as a way of keeping people in jobs,
as we reposition the country to ensure that when there's an upswing in the
global economy, we are able to play in that space as competently as
possible.
Journalist: Just a follow-up question on my colleague here, do I understand
correctly that government at this stage has taken an in-principle position that
there will be no bail-out packages for industry? Do I have an impression that
at least one industry has appealed to government? I think a figure that they
requested was in the region of R10 billion. Is government sort of maintaining
an in-principle position that there will be no sector-specific bail-out
packages as the Europeans and Americans have had?
President Motlanthe: Well, we have already been involved in efforts to save
jobs in the clothing and textile industry for instance. And what we are saying
is we will continue, we'll not go back, we'll continue in those efforts and
also when there is downscaling, the mining industry for instance is going to
experience difficulties given the decline in demand for the automotive
industry, platinum mines will end up with surplus capacity, and what we're
saying is that you know they should look at other options, go into short weeks,
extended leaves, in order to ensure that people are not just retrenched. So
that's the package that the task team is looking at rather than just throwing
money into these companies.
Journalist: You mentioned in the speech that you were going to access the
billions and billions of rands that are in pension funds. Could you expand on
that for us because there was considerable alarm?
President Motlanthe: I know you people have a deep aversion for prescribed
assets, but of course the task team includes labour and as you know that,
pension funds and provident funds are directed by a board of trustees, which is
composed on a 50-50 base representation between employers and organised labour.
So that's one of the areas that they would have to look at, if a very important
sector is likely to go under and that you know an injection could save jobs and
position it to survive. Those are some of the options in the whole range that
have to be looked into.
Journalist: Mr President, on the front page of the Sunday Independent today,
an allegation made about your personal life was retracted by the woman who was
apparently or allegedly involved in that. Can you tell us why you did not from
the onset deny these allegations in the first place and are you considering
legal action?
Facilitator: I thought I indicated, why we are here, it's an opportunity
created so we can talk about these issues. Now if you wish, please, let's focus
on that.
President Motlanthe: I think I'll drop a line to the Press Ombudsman. He has
the time and the authority and the responsibility to look into those kinds of
indiscretions. I think I've got more than enough on my plate to be dealing with
that, thanks. Thank you.
Journalist: [unclear â off mic]⦠When you talk of the EPWP, does it
represent an example of decent work as stated by the unions?
President Motlanthe: Well, the EPWP creates job opportunities in the main.
We are saying in these difficult times, it may be actually helpful to try and
find people on a more permanent basis to improve on, say for instance, the
hospitals and the clinics, in the cleaning up and so on, so that people could
be taken, you know, on a more regular basis to do that kind of work. To keep
police stations more spruced up so that when you walk in there, you feel
confident that you know your matter will be attended to. The schools could be
maintained through the EPWP. I mean some of the schools are in a dilapidated
state. And people will be employed to do that kind of work. In some of the
smaller dorpies, you know, the roads have potholes and so on. People would be
employed more on a permanent basis to do that kind of maintenance.
Journalist: Mr President, in your speech you outlined a list of challenges
that face the country, and opposition parties said you avoided addressing the
real challenges facing people. Which areas do you think the government has
actually failed to address? And if you ever had the chance to run again as
President, which area would you focus on the most?
President Motlanthe: I wouldn't have a chance. No, the⦠let's take the issue
of poverty. Government would grant people some support in the form of the Child
Support Grant, and other social grants. But that in itself does not eliminate
poverty. So it's merely a relief. It doesn't really eliminate poverty per say,
that is why the war against poverty. Government takes a view that the best
possible way of pulling families out of the cycle of poverty is to find one or
two members of the family who are of school-going age, help them along through
so that they acquire educational qualifications and skills.
And therefore, hopefully be in a position to help pull the families out of
that cycle. So that's a good example, where you're dealing with a stubborn
problem and challenge and what you do really to sustain the hopes of people
rather than to eliminate it, because it takes other efforts to eliminate
poverty. It's going to be a long, long, long struggle against poverty. So if
you like, if you're looking at it from the point of view of detractors, you say
well, government has failed to eliminate poverty but the recipients of those
grants would appreciate and are grateful that at least they don't go to bed
without a morsel of bread, but it doesn't actually eliminate poverty
altogether.
Journalist: Mr President, in your speech you referred to the power-sharing
governments in Zimbabwe and the progress that has been made there. That
Tsvangirai should be sworn in as Prime Minister this week some time with
timelines set. Can you perhaps comment on concerns about the ability of Mr
Tsvangirai and Mr Mugabe to work together to actually carry out the tasks that
are necessary to rebuilding the country?
President Motlanthe: Well, I don't know what else I can say except that the
electorate in Zimbabwe gave Mr Tsvangirai's party 100 seats in the assembly and
Mr Mugabe's party 99 seats. And that⦠whether they like it or not or whether
they like each other or not, they are bound to work together if anything is to
be passed by that assembly and if the country itself is to pull itself out of
the rut of poverty and disintegration of bulk infrastructure. They are bound to
work together. Ours is really to support them in those efforts, and to that
extent, we've facilitated a number of one-on-one meetings between the two of
them, and also meetings which included Professor Mutambara. They seem to be
getting along fairly well. We are optimistic that they can at least manage a
transition period until they are ready to call for fresh elections on the next
anniversary of the elections.
Journalist: Mr President, just one issue of clarity, you answered a question
as to whether shouldn't we be seeing bail-outs as a last resort, you're looking
at all the other steps which are so uncertain. Specific industries may need
direct interventions in the form of bail-outs.
Secondly, could you comment on the reports that the R300 million South
Africa has set aside to assist Zimbabwe is actually being controlled by the
Zanu-PF aligned organisations?
President Motlanthe: Well, you know, as the Southern African Development
Community (SADC), we organised the broadest, most representative cross-section
of the Zimbabwean people to a framework for handling and distributing aid and
that framework includes grain growers, NGOs, religious leaders, the World
Health Organisation. It was all (brought) together by SADC.
Therefore, we channel relief and aid through that structure precisely
because we knew that you know you could not deal only with government or any of
the political parties. And that is why I am certain that you have not had a
complaint about the manner in which that relief was handled and distributed.
So, that's how we are dealing with relief. We've encouraged all other donors to
work through that structure, because it is non-partisan, it is most
representative. The question with regards to a bail-out package, the point I
was making is that we would not have a special fund for giving to companies as
it were, but that we'd⦠this task team that we established would look at all
options. The primary area of focus is to try and save jobs and, of course, to
save the companies because if a company goes under, there will be no jobs to
save. So that's how we're approaching that question.
Journalist: While you were delivering your SoNA, there was a group of people
protesting, calling for a commission of inquiry into the arms deal. I know you
said in the past that if people have allegations they should go to the police
with these. But I mean it's quite clear that a judicial commission of inquiry
[unclear]⦠investigation. And don't you think it would be a good time to
announce that commission of inquiry on Friday? And what exactly are the reasons
for holding off on this?
President Motlanthe: Well, firstly I don't now whether it's a campaign or
what but I received part⦠what do they call it⦠an open letter from Archbishop
Emeritus Tutu and former President FW de Klerk calling for the establishment of
a judicial commission of inquiry. And virtually, I mean literally, they gave me
seven days within which to establish a judicial commission of inquiry with
terms of reference and all that, made the point⦠they actually stated that
because there are impending elections people need to know about these issues
before they can vote for the party of their choice and so on.
And I responded to them in the negative and indicated to them that in the
previous investigations by the three agencies, the Public Protector,
Auditor-General and the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), it
was stated when they submitted their report that the NDPP would be available to
follow up on all allegations that were to arise subsequent to the submission of
that report, and that before Parliament went into recess at the end of the
year, Scopa, the public accounts committee here in Parliament, was dealing with
precisely that matter and invited those who had information to make
submissions. And that didn't really make any sense for me to establish a fact
process, parallel process, under those circumstances. And that's my
position.
Journalist: Yes, I wondered if you could fill out a little more about the
task team, what is its term of reference and who is on it and when does its
work finish? And will there be a report at the end of it?
President Motlanthe: Yes, there will be a report at the end of it. As we
stated, we are busy at work, it consists of people on government's side from
The Presidency and people from business and organised labour. So we expect that
you know they will maybe come back to us with very concrete proposals of how we
should respond to this economic meltdown. Mindful of the fact that we don't
know the⦠we have not seen the bottom of this meltdown yet. All we know is that
we've seen the tip of this iceberg, but we haven't seen the bottom of it yet.
So we really have no certainty about its extent and gravity. We cannot even
make projections up to a certain point.
Journalist: And when do you expect thisâ¦
President Motlanthe: As soon as they're done. I think it should be within
this month or by next month.
Journalist: I'm going to try and restate my first question. I was actually
trying to focus on the plight of commercial farmers who are stuck on land which
because the government is being slow with the land process, which they cannot
sell and which they cannot really develop. Do you have any message for those
commercial farmers, some of whom have been waiting for more than 11 years after
having reached a consensus with government on the need for land reform, on when
this will actually go through and whether you're going to commit more funds or
clean up their act in Polokwane in the land office or anything practical like
that?
President Motlanthe: Well, that's a specific question relating to the
commercial farmers in Limpopo, and I would follow up with the minister and
ensure that the interaction commences.
Journalist: Mr President, if I'm right, you tacitly indicated to whoever is
going to come back in the new administration to tone down on policies. Was it
an admission to say that especially your own party's promises in its manifesto
are going to be more expensive? If it was not a tacit admission would you say
that given the economic meltdown and given that you have been in the Presidency
for six months, would you say that these kinds of promises given this economic
meltdown are really expensive? And just I'd like a follow-up question, please.
Are you coming back after the election?
President Motlanthe: Now, with the issue of whether I'm coming back or not,
that really is a matter of the party lists, if I am in the lists perhaps I
would, I don't know yet, so let's leave that to the political parties. With
regards to the other question, how shall I put it, it's not to say that the
manifestos are not properly costed. As I tried to indicate that this meltdown
is an unknown quantity. Some countries have hastily declared that they've gone
into recession. But precisely because in this forum we have not touched the
ground yet, it's very difficult to say whether it is indeed a recession or a
depression. And when you are confronted by such uncertainty it is helpful to
ensure that, you know, you become conservative and prudent in your
expectations. Because the situation is very, very different from where we were
before the meltdown. That's why we called for collective approaches to agree on
an intervention.
Journalist: Mr President, you spoke of some problems that obviously exist
within the court system. Any particular plans to make sure that the Criminal
Justice System (CJS) functions more efficiently to address the bottlenecks and
the frustrations of those who are in that system and obviously in terms of
trying to fight crime. And just another one very quickly, on the question of
education, obviousâ¦government you've mentioned takes that very seriously,
however, there are a number of children now who still haven't received their
matric results and it's frustrating to them, they cannot enter tertiary
institutions and so on.
President Motlanthe: Well, with regards to the delay to the matric results,
there's really no excuse, there's no reason why in February already such
results are not out, and I know that the Minister (of Education) is attending
to that matter quite urgently. And regarding the question of the CJS, we have
already in process of review, led by the Deputy Minister of Justice, looking
into the entire CJS, so steps have already been taken to do a review. We are
just awaiting the final report and recommendations.
Journalist: Mr President, within the context of the fight against crime,
could you share with us the reasoning and perhaps explain how arresting a
national police commissioner is a greater threat to national security than
having him run around with organised criminals?
President Motlanthe: Yes. The way you put it⦠There's no rationale here, you
can't have the rationale with the Commissioner of Police is running around with
criminals, that's irrational. But on a more serious note, the issue of national
security relates to⦠I mean, let me put it differently, the place and role of
law-enforcement units in any country relates to security very vehemently. If
you have a situation in which the⦠your law-enforcement units are clashing or
in direct conflict with one another, that in itself could create a very serious
situation, threats to the country. That is essentially what we're talking
about. And, therefore, that there is always need to ensure that there is proper
and clearly defined roles and mandates and co-ordination as well.
Because unfortunately if you read the laws they are not that clear in the
sense that responsibilities are given to various offices, the law says final
responsibility rests with the Minister, and then you have a situation where the
issue of independence gets interpreted in various ways and therefore leading to
confusion. So these are some of the grey areas that need to be clarified. I'm
sure you know that even the courts don't see it from the same page with regards
to these issues.
Journalist: I just want to know, in your meetings with the IEC you engaged
on the issue of political intolerance?
President Motlanthe: Yes, we agreed that all political parties, and this is
a message we've been harping on in many of our addresses, must be free to
canvas for support in all areas of this country, and that there should be no
danger of any party being part of⦠being completely shut out of any area or
section of the South African electorate. That's a message that we all repeat
all the time now, we agreed on that.
Journalist: [unclear]⦠Competition Bill. Parliament has sent back the
Competition Bill in spite of two concerns raised about [unclear]⦠criminal
liability. Now in the wake of that, some of the leaders who were at the SoNA
suggest that insisting on their criminal liability provisions signals a change
in tone in government that's sort of more hostile towards business, could be
because of the ongoing anticompetitive behaviour in various industries
[unclear] investigated. So would you say that government, because of this
evidence of price fixing, has developed a more vigilant attitude towards
business? And what are you going to do with the Competitions Bill now that it's
been sent back, without addressing the issues raised.
President Motlanthe: No, assent for any bill must be done when the President
has no reservation. If I have a reservation as I did have in this⦠with regards
to this bill, and I sent it to Parliament with all the attachments, spelling
out why I have reservations. And Parliament has sent it back as is, so my next
step would be to refer it to the Constitutional Court for certification. And
with regards to the other question, the point I was making in the SoNA was that
it is important for our democracy that we also guard against monopolies giving
prices, you know, to the great prejudice of the rest of the consumers and the
population. Because as you know monopolies can always fix prices. And that
we're encouraged by the Competitions Board that it's very vigilant and what
they've done is commendable to bring to book this major points.
Journalist: Mr President, in your address you didn't quite accurately
address the issues which have been lingering for the past ten years or so, you
know, the issue of this thing on public service, the issue of [unclear]
competence. Even former President Mbeki in his last address did admit to say
all interventions about capacity and the local government service delivery of
concurrent provinces. We have seen budgets being returned to their treasuries
as a result of under-spending of provinces, and the ANC in its national policy
conference hasn't quite much really dealt with the issue of what's going to be
the future of the provinces.
President Motlanthe: Well, I'm just the caretaker President really. That's
too heavy a task for a caretaker President. We leave that to the next
administration. It's a matter you can't address within a few months. It's a big
question, the question of the viability and need for provinces. It would
require national discourse before a position is made with regards to that.
Journalist: I wondered if you would⦠talking about big decisions that have
to be made, I wondered if you would deny that you intend to appoint Mr Mkhize
as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP)?
President Motlanthe: It's a very smart way of putting it. Because you know
the appointment of a NDPP s a political⦠there are no normal procedures of
interviews and things like that. The only guide is that the person must be a
qualified advocate. Whereas the suspension and dismissal is lifted out of the
act governing conditions for judges, so the two are not quite compatible, the
appointment is just merely political and the suspension and dismissal follows
the procedure applicable to judges. That's one of the weaknesses in the act I
think that needs to be corrected going forward. I think it would be better if
the appointment of a NDPP were to be handled, the interviews and the shortlist
and all of that were to be done by bodies such as the Judicial Services
Commission so that as in the case of judges then they could shortlist four
names and submit to the president. I think the public would have more
confidence in that kind of procedure. So I don't know about this person you are
referring to, thank you.
Journalist: Do you intend to ask the JSC to do that right now?
President Motlanthe: It's a question which relates to the Act itself. As the
Act stands now I can appoint an NDPP tomorrow if there is a vacancy. And all
I'm saying is that these are some of the weaknesses in the Act that really
deserve correction.
Enquiries:
Thabo Masebe
Presidential Spokesperson
Cell: 082 410 8087
Issued by: The Presidency
8 February 2009
