Presidency rejects allegations that government responds when there is violence

20 May 2016

The Presidency rejects inaccurate statements made by some commentators in the media stating that there is violence during protests because that is the language that government understands and also that government does not go to the people.

There can never be justification for violence and anarchy.

More importantly, it is not true that government only pays attention when there is violence and mayhem. Government continuously engages communities on its programmes and continues to listen and respond to their concerns.

The President holds several public meetings per year as well, including the Presidential Siyahlola Monitoring Programme where he undertakes hands on monitoring of service delivery in communities, the Presidential Imbizo programme of listening to communities and also the Presidential Infrastructure Programme where he engages communities when opening infrastructure projects. The Deputy President also holds many meetings yearly focusing on the fight against poverty amongst others.

Government also holds public meetings where ministers and deputy ministers visit communities in a more intensive manner.

A report is presented by the Presidency at each Cabinet Lekgotla detailing the public engagements activities of each Minister and Deputy Minister every six months. The report for January to July 2015 to the mid-year Cabinet Lekgotla indicated that over 700 events were held by members of the National Executive supported by premiers, MECs and mayors.  The report for July to December 2015 recorded over 600 izimbizo events having been undertaken by Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

In this regard, community engagements do take place and this will be intensified as part of the Back to Basics local government improvement programme.

Issued by Bongani Ngqulunga on behalf of the Presidency, 20 May 2016