Shocking Mail and Guardian fabrication about Deputy President’s absence

09 January 2016

The Presidency is shocked by the fabrication published by the Mail and Guardian claiming that there are tensions between President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa because the Deputy President did not attend the ANC gala dinner last night, 8 January 2016.

The newspaper goes on to claim that the absence of the Deputy President took other leaders by surprise and also mentions a lot of other gossip and innuendo. This is preposterous.

The Deputy President was in Juba, South Sudan in his capacity as a special envoy of President Zuma, as announced to the whole country before departure. He was supposed to arrive back in South Africa in time for the governing party dinner. However, his South African Air Force plane developed technical difficulties and he had to return back home commercially. He landed back around 1.30am in South Africa during which time the gala dinner had ended.

Had the reporter inquired, he would have obtained the facts before spreading lies to the public.

We hope that the Mail and Guardian will endeavour to improve reporting standards.

The Department of Defence is currently exploring solutions to the problems of the current SA Air Force planes that break down and cause inconvenience to the President and the Deputy President.

Statement issued by Bongani Majola, The Presidency, 9 January 2016