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6 December 2007

Themba Maseko: Okay, good morning ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for making the time to join us this morning. This was the final Cabinet meeting of the year, and I want to take the opportunity to thank all the members of the media for attending all our sessions and for reporting very well on the post-Cabinet briefings that I’ve been doing. Most of your reports have been fairly accurate, and I want to thank you for that, for a job well done. And I’m sure that you’re all looking forward to a long break, we will see you in the New Year.

Cabinet held its ordinary meeting in Pretoria yesterday morning, the 5th of December 2007. Cabinet approved both the Biofuels Industrial Strategy and the Electricity Master Plan. I’m pleased to welcome the Minister of Minerals and Energy who’s here with us this morning, who’ll elaborate further on these two initiatives during the course of this briefing. The Minister’s statement will also be put on the website just for further information. Cabinet noted that the APRM report has now been published by the APRM secretariat. The report identified 18 best practises that were worth emulating in other countries, including innovations such as the Mzansi Account, the Multi-Purpose Community Centres renamed Thusong Service Centres, and the Black Economic Empowerment Charters initiative. Further, the report highlights a number of strengths which characterise the South African society, including having one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, having the largest and strongest economy on in the continent, a political environment conducive to political debate, a First World economic and infrastructure… physical infrastructure; a strong public financial management system; strong technological capability; good corporate governance; a robust legal system and a strong framework for the protection of human rights.

However the report also highlights a number of challenges including racism and xenophobia as some of the challenges that we still need to address. The under-representation of women in the private sector; high levels of gender based violence; the rise in education expenditure that is not mirrored in the outcomes of the education system; insufficient contact between ordinary South Africans and political representatives; the pervasive legacy and distortions of the apartheid system; high HIV infection rate, and the high levels of violent crime.

The Government response to the report is included in appendix two of the document. In raising some of the concerns about certain aspects of the report, Government was of the view that the APRM process would be strengthened if the identified weaknesses were addressed. In this regard a workshop was held in Algeria to review the process and methodology issues. Government is satisfied that its concerns have been… have received the necessary attention at the Algeria workshop. The South African Government thanks the panel for their hard work and dedication to the task of reviewing our complex country.

The next step is the implementation of the form of action to address the challenges raised in the report. South Africa will be reporting progress to the Secretariat every six months, and will table an annual report to the APRM Heads of State and Government forum in July. Cabinet noted that the programme of action and that greater alignment between the two programs of action will be attained in 2008 when government finalises its program of action for the year. The two programs are the APRM proposed country program and the government program of action. So attempts will be made to align the two in the next year.

All stakeholders led by government are urged to work together to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of the APRM country report. The report is now available and can be accessed from the website, www.nepad.org/aprm.

At its meeting of the 7th of November 2007, Cabinet had resolved that the forensic report on the financial affairs of the Land Bank was to be referred to the South African Police Services, and the prosecution authorities for further investigation and possible prosecutions. Cabinet resolved yesterday that this decision will be rescinded, pending further internal investigations by the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs.

Cabinet also noted that the second European-Africa Summit would take place on 8 and 9 December in Lisbon, Portugal. The summit will strengthen relations between the two continents and will help to consolidate the African agenda. The South African delegation will be led by President Mbeki and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nkosazana Zuma… Dlamini-Zuma, rather.

The meeting noted that the World AIDS Day was celebrated in many parts of the country on the 1st of December 2007. A number of activities were held in many parts of the country which served to mobilise society to act together to heighten the implementation of the national strategic plan. To this end Cabinet welcomed the progress that is being made in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The highlights of the progress include the following. The mother-to-child transmission program has the largest coverage in the Sub-Saharan region, reaching between 50 and 60% of the targeted population. More than 370 000 people had been initiated on the antiretroviral therapy by September 2007. The prevalence level among teenagers had decreased from 15.9% to 13.7%. And that the South African National AIDS Council had succeeded to strengthen the partnership between government and all stakeholders in the fight against the pandemic.

Cabinet welcomed the 2007 report card of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and the paediatric HIV care and treatment in low and middle income countries. The report lists South Africa among 17 countries that are on track in meeting the UN’s 2010 target in the provision of antiretroviral treatment to PMTCT. Efforts are being made to strengthen the PMTCT program, including impact assessment and the improvement of the treatment protocols to introduce dual therapy.

The meeting was also briefed on the 8 cases of klebsiella reported at the Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal. Cabinet expressed its deepest condolences to the mothers and families of the five babies that unfortunately passed away. The three other babies were in a stable condition and have since been cleared of the infection. While further investigations may be necessary to establish the actual source of the infection, Cabinet welcomed the fact that no new cases of klebsiella have been reported and that the situation is now under control following the intervention by the health authorities to contain the situation.

Cabinet noted that the 2nd of December marked the 40th anniversary of the world’s transplant operation which was conducted by a South African, Dr. Chris Barnard in 1967. The meeting urged the country’s health professionals to continue to demonstrate excellence in various fields of health and science.

The observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons on the 3rd of December was noted. Cabinet reaffirmed its commitment to ensure that at least 2% of government’s payroll will consist of disabled persons by the year 2010.

The meeting received and noted the senior management service remuneration panel report which proposes that the salary structure of senior managers in the public service should be reviewed. The meeting resolved that a task team be established, consisting of the Ministers of Public Service and Administration, National Treasury, Health, Education and the Presidency. This team will review the report and consider the salary structure of the SMS, including the introduction of differentiation in the salaries of DGs and DDGs, in view of the different scope, complexities and impact of their various functions. The matter will be finalised by April 2008.

Cabinet also approved the formalisation of the existing human settlement at Dukuduku forest, with limited relocation of some households from the sensitive Umfolozi floodplain and the St. Lucia estuary in order to protect and conserve the Futululu section of the Dukuduku state forest. The formalisation of the settlement will limit the ongoing illegal settlement within the Dukuduku forest, which has resulted in the destruction of approximately 5 000 hectares of the indigenous forest, and poses a threat to the World Heritage status of the wetland park. All affected departments will commit the required resources to implement the formalisation of this decision. A project steering committee will be established, consisting of all the role players to finalise the implementation plan. The details of the plan will be unveiled by the Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry at a meeting with all stakeholders.

The revised strategic framework for the development of human resources in the public service was approved. Copies of the framework can be obtained from the Department of Public Service and Administration.

The report on the implementation of the Financial Services Charter was received. The meeting noted that there were a number of issues still outstanding…still to be considered by the sector, including the need to align the charter with the broad based black economic empowerment codes. The report was noted as work in progress.

The rural transport development strategy was also approved. The strategy will be published by the Minister of Transport shortly.

The South African Mint Company’s commemorative coin designs for 2008 were also approved and will be gazetted shortly by the Minister of Finance.

The following appointments were approved; the following bills were also approved. End of statement, thank you very much.

The process from here onwards will be I will take questions on my statement. And we will then get a presentation from the Minister of Minerals and Energy on the Biofuels Strategy and the Electricity Master Plan. So let’s take the easy questions and then I’ll hand over to the Minister. Any questions on my statement? Yes, Sir.

Journalist: On the APRM report, why didn’t the President release it earlier this week as, or last week as scheduled? Why didn’t we get a copy beforehand? It’s a 370, 380-page document that we have to question you about now. You know, those two questions for now, please.

Themba Maseko: Okay, the original idea proposed by the communication team was, yes indeed, that the President will formally receive the report from the secretariat, especially the chair of the panel. But unfortunately the chair of the panel could not arrive in the country, so that formal handover did not take place to the President. However, what happened was that the report was handed to Cabinet by the Minister of Public Service and Administration, so it was a technicality that we could not secure the presence of the chair of the panel to come and do a formal handover to the President as proposed by ourselves as the communicators. Why the report was not given out earlier, same answer, the idea was that we will hand over… the Secretariat will hand over the report to the President and at that point copies will be given to the public, but unfortunately that did not materialise. But the copy has been available on the website I’m told for at least a week already. So apologies at this stage.

Journalist: The issue with the Land Bank, does this mean that the document has not in fact been referred to the South African Police Services and prosecution authorities? That that is now going to be held back pending further investigations?

Themba Maseko: My understanding is that the report has not yet been handed over to the NPA and SAPS, largely because members of the board have come forth and said there are still a number of other issues that need to be considered before the matter is handed over for a police investigation and possible prosecutions. So the process will unfold and we’ll advise you as soon as a new decision is taken in that regard. Yes, Sir.

Journalist: Ja, as a follow-up to that, are you saying that, on record, that the government is still committed to refer those matters to the police and prosecutions?

Themba Maseko: Well, the commitment of government is to make sure that all the issues that have been highlighted by the forensic report are followed up and dealt with as effectively as possible. Now you cannot hand over a report to the police unless you are certain that in fact all the issues raised in the forensic report have been dealt with appropriately, and all the information that would not have been handed over to the forensic auditors is handed over. So the matter still continues and if it still emerges that in fact there was fraud committed in the bank, then the matter will be handed over to the police. But the view of Cabinet was that let’s make sure that we exhaust all the internal processes, do our proper and thorough investigations, so that the police are handed over a much easier task. Is there a follow-up on this question?

Journalist: Yes.

Themba Maseko: Yes.

Journalist: Thanks. So does this mean… who is going to decide then if there was fraud or not? If the police or NPA…

Themba Maseko: Well, the forensic investigation was done, members of the board and some senior executives of the bank felt that in fact the forensic audit did not take into account a lot of other information that needs to be brought to their attention. So as soon as that internal process is concluded the matter can then be handed to the police, when there is contentment by the Minister of Land Affairs that in fact all the issues that were not looked at by the forensic auditors are dealt with before the matter is handed over to the police. But if there is indeed fraud that was committed, there will not be a change of position. The matter will indeed be handed to the police.

Themba Maseko: Then we’ll go to Cape Town

Journalist: Sorry, Themba, it just sounds like government’s backtracking a bit here.

Themba Maseko: Ja, I agree, it does sound like that, but it’s not. I can assure you that a forensic audit was conducted. When the report was tabled to the Minister other members of the board and other senior executives came forth and said in this report the following factors were not taken into account or this information was not available to the auditors during the investigation period. So all of those issues will be brought on the table, and when that is completed the matter would still be handed to the police if indeed there was clarity that in fact there was fraud which was committed. The issues about whether some of the decisions taken by management did not have formal approval of the board and the Department of Land Affairs and Agriculture. When all those matters have been clarified the matter will then go to Cabinet. Let’s go to Cape Town and take a few questions from there.

Journalist: Thank you. Themba, I think you have to concede this is highly irregular. You say it as though it’s normal procedure but surely if a forensic investigation which as I understand it implicates members of the board should be handed directly to the investigating authorities to look at it. How can you now say that members who are implicated by the report are to be investigating the issue internally further? I mean, won’t it make the whole thing just look a lot better if this issue is handed to the police to investigate?

Themba Maseko: Well, Deon, I’m not saying that the members of the board were implicated, I did not use that phrase. I am saying that some members of the board and some members of the executive have come forward with new information that was not considered by the forensic auditors, and this will now take place. The new information that has been brought forward will be considered, and as soon as that information is considered and presented to the minister then a decision will be taken to take the matter forward. But at this stage all Cabinet is saying is that if there is… and it appears that there is indeed new information, that needs to be incorporated and considered before a final decision is taken to hand over the report to the police authorities. So new information to make sure that the complete information is handed over to the police, if indeed there was fraud which was committed. Because auditors will do an investigation, if they did not get certain information they may have made recommendations that would make… would not complete the picture that government wants to paint when the report is handed to the police.

Journalist: Themba, sorry, can I just follow that up immediately again.

Themba Maseko: Ja.

Journalist: But surely any new information, I mean, even if the police investigate this matter there’s going to be new information coming to light all along. And it surely it should be the job of the police and the Prosecuting Authority to take any new information and consider it in their investigation. Any delay in handing this over to the police for investigation now looks like a cover-up, and there’s no way avoiding that.

Themba Maseko: Well, Deon, what Cabinet is trying to achieve here is to make sure that the police are given a complete report of what really transpired at the bank. The information that was given to the forensic auditors appears not to have been complete, and therefore Cabinet says let’s complete the information before it is handed over to the police for further investigation. That’s all that this is saying. Anymore questions from Cape Town? We’ll come back to Pretoria…

Journalist: Also on this, Themba, in your last comment now you said you want to make sure that complete information is handed to the police. A few comments back you said if anything goes to the police. Can you tell us, is the additional information mitigating or aggravating? Does it make the case sound as though there may not have been a crime, or that the crime is worse than you originally thought? Can you tell us specifically the board members who asked to be heard…are they specifically board members who were not implicated in anything in the forensic report, or do they include board members who may have been implicated? Can you tell us whether definitely the final file will be given to the prosecuting authority to consider, or is Cabinet going to decide whether to hand… whether there is a criminal case here? Or are you going to let the National Prosecutor decide that?

Themba Maseko: Okay, we’ll come back to your question Brendon. You want to follow-up now? It’s similar to that. Basically, unfortunately I cannot give details of the additional information that has come top the fore. Neither can I give you the names of board members who have… and members of senior executive who have come forth with new information, because that matter still needs to be considered by the Minister, and when the file is complete and all the prima facie evidence at this stage is indicating that in fact some fraud could have been committed in the financial affairs of the Land Bank. So my expectation is that when the file is completed it will still be handed over to the police and prosecution authorities for final investigation. But at this stage the view was that at the time when the forensic report was concluded not all the information was actually available to the auditors, so that’s what Cabinet is trying to achieve here. Liezl? Okay, let’s move onto other questions. Cape Town, is there another question?

Journalist: Yes, I’m trying to follow it up. Sir, it seems as though there is a forensic audit report. This forensic audit report is now being brought into question by people who apparently are not forensic auditors. Would it be fair to say that at this stage is it being shifted from a forensic audit report to some sort of political decision? Who will take the final decision, and how on earth is this at all acceptable with good practise if there’s a forensic audit report and these cases are now being decided on issues which are not forensic audit issues.

Themba Maseko: Well, let me just answer your question by giving you an example. Some of the… one of the findings in the forensic audit report says basically management in the board took decisions without the approval or authorisation of the Board. Now the new information is indicating that in fact some of the information was indeed… or some of the decisions were indeed approved by the Board. So it means it’s very clear that in fact there is some inconsistency between what the report found and the new information that’s being brought to the fore. So the Minister has been given the mandate to look at the new information that has been presented, compile a complete report, which could then be handed over to the police. The issue is the fact that the information on the basis of which a decision was made during the forensic audit was not complete. And now that new information has come to the fore and Cabinet is saying… we’re not saying we’re blocking but Cabinet is saying complete the information before the file is handed over to the police and the NPA, and the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs will indeed look at all that information and if indeed there is a need to do further investigation that will be done, and at what point the matter will be handed over to the police, the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs will take a final decision in that matter. Any other questions before I hand over to the Minister? Yes, Sir, Pretoria.

Journalist: On the klebsiella issue, I mean, what’s the view of government? Because we had this outbreak of… this is last year and it seems that it’s also catching health authorities there off guard. What kind of guarantees are you providing to the populace out there to say that we’ll never see these cases again?

Themba Maseko: Unfortunately on matters of health it’s not possible to give 100% guarantee that certain occurrences of certain bacterial disease will never occur. But what the initial investigation found was that in fact there were shortcomings in the procedures that were followed in that particular hospital, so the investigation has identified issues that need to be addressed in that particular hospital, and when decisions are taken about this hospital information will then be shared with other hospitals and clinics to make sure that procedures are tightly monitored and followed, to make sure that we prevent further outbreaks. So, that’s how the matter is being handled at this stage. We can’t give 100% guarantee that there will never be any outbreak of klebsiella or any other disease in future, but procedures will be tightened to make sure that there isn’t a recurrence of this kind of thing. Okay…

Journalist: A couple of questions. One is you say the government response to the APRM report identified weaknesses, I mean I guess I could go and look at the website. But can you just identify some of those weaknesses that the government feels should be addressed in the APRM process? And secondly, can you give us a clue as to the proposals which will be in the consumer protection bill and the intellectual property laws amendment bill?

Themba Maseko: Okay. Weaknesses, Michael, on the APRM report, I’ll just mention one but advise you to take a look at the report. Basically a lot of it has to do with process issues, but also methodological issues which are included in the government response there. One of the fundamental issues that government raised in the process was the need for some more detailed analysis to be conducted on the history that the country has gone through. The fact that we have not dealt with some of the key challenges has a lot to do with the fact that we’re trying to reverse a legacy of apartheid that has existed in this country for more than 300 years, and reversing some of the weaknesses of the past is not something that can be dealt with overnight. And the fact that the government has a program to address a number of those challenges, for instance the fact that there is a shortage of housing in the country is something that we’ve acknowledged as government, but have said that in fact we have an extensive program, one of the largest programs in the world to meet the shortage of houses for South Africans. The fact that we have for instance built more than 2.5 million houses over a period of 13 years is a great achievement. So to just indicate housing as a major challenge, without giving the historical context of that particular problem was seen to be a weakness. But the workshop did take place in Algeria, a lot of those issues were presented and all the delegates who attended the workshop did actually concede that in fact the APRM process needs to be strengthened in many ways to make sure that in fact issues that are being dealt with by the various countries participating in the review process are given sufficient attention, and that the history of the problems experienced by individual countries is actually not discouraged. But can I advise you to just go through the report and look at those weaknesses. The bills… Michael, I’ll email you copies of the bills, but I can tell you for instance that the intellectual property bill is accompanied by a policy document that basically seeks to ensure that the… what is termed indigenous intellectual property of countries such as South Africa is protected. There’s a lot of knowledge that emerges from indigenous communities which does not enjoy intellectual property protection. There’re a lot of for instance plants that have huge medicinal value which is not protected, and is being used by the Western world as they come and do research in these countries without acknowledging the intellectual property that belongs to those indigenous communities. So that’s what this bill will try and address. Collin, you said there was a second question in Cape Town?

Journalist: its two questions that have nothing to do with each other, starting with the APRM. We recall that government was quite unhappy with some versions of the APRM report, which one is the one being posted? Has it been changed in any way from anything that was originally received? You know, we haven’t had sight of anything so it’s a bit tough for us to tell. Was this edited at all? And my second question is from a place far away which is important, called Dukuduku, that has been going on for more than 15 years now. What I cannot comprehend is how the decision to formalise that squatter community in the Dukuduku forest, which has… which has just about destroyed parts of that forest, the decision to formalise it, how on earth will it stop squatting. What will government do to squatters that are streaming into the Dukuduku forest all the time? Will they actually take sanction against people who have moved there illegally as they have been for almost two decades now?

Themba Maseko: Jan-Jan, let’s start with your last question about the formalisation of that community. What’s important to understand is that this community has now settled in that area for a period of at least 12 years, and there are a lot of land claims that have been put by communities in that particular part of the world, but there’s also been a number of conflicts within the community itself about whether relocation is the right way to go or not, and government after consulting with the community leaders, the various role players, the province, the local authorities in that area, the idea is that we… the community needs to be formalised, you identify a specific area, you formalise that area, and limit all settlements to that particular area. And those settlements that are in the most sensitive parts of the forest will be relocated to other parts of that area to make sure that we at least protect and limit the destruction of this indigenous area to this specific area, without allowing expansion. Because if we don’t limit the settlement to where it is now, chances are that in fact we could lose more ground and the area could lose its World Heritage status. So the idea is the community has settled… limited the settlement to a specific geographic location, make sure that you don’t allow any future settlement sin other parts of the forest, and relocate those community or sections of the community that are in the most sensitive parts of that geographic area, to make sure that in fact we at least meet the community halfway whilst also conserving the wetland areas that have been identified as the World Heritage site. So this is we think the best compromise position reached, which takes into account the fact that there are land claims, there are community disputes, but also the community has almost settled there and it will be difficult to relocate a whole community from that area.

Journalist: Themba, sorry that was not my question. I mean, those people have been there illegally all along. The limiting of people, you know, settling in the Dukuduku forest has been a matter of law since time immemorial. The point being that what would the sanction be? It’s a growing community, what would the sanction be against people who go in there now? What will government do that is different from what government and its predecessors have been doing very unsuccessfully for the past 20 years, namely trying to not get people to settle in that forest?

Themba Maseko: Well, as I said, there have been extensive discussions and consultations with the communities there. What’s going to be done is that now the community will be informed that we are acknowledging and accepting that you are settled in this particular part of the forest, but that your settlement will be limited to this particular geographic area, and those who are in the most sensitive part of the forest will be relocated to different areas. So the issue is that there will be greater law enforcement to enforce this particular decision which we think is a compromise position arising out of extensive consultations with the communities. So, Jan-Jan, a direct answer to your question, law enforcement will be used to make sure that settlement is limited and restricted to the geographic area as identified in this particular decision. The Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry together with provincial and local leadership will be meeting leaders of the community to formalise this matter and our sense is that in fact there’s already consensus that this is the best way to proceed, instead of relocating the whole community only a small section of the community will be relocated. And because there’s some consensus on this matter we think that in fact there is a basis to enforce the law and make sure that in fact no further settlement… new settlements are allowed in other parts of the forest. So law enforcement will be the tool used more forcefully this time. The… which version of the APRM report… let me just explain the process once more. The panel did its work, compiled its report, the report was given to South Africa for comment, we commented. There were a number of factual inaccuracies that were included in the first draft of the report. Those comments were given to the panel. There are areas where the panel acknowledged that in fact some facts were inaccurate and some of those were corrected. But the final report was then presented to the heads of state, AU heads of state summit in Ghana. The summit discussed the report particularly the APRM heads of states. And the South African disagreements with the report were then incorporated as an annexure to the report. So the report itself is indeed the views of the APRM panel, the government’s view is attached as an appendix to the reports, which makes it very clear that the views of the report… contained in the report, are the views of the panel. The South African Government response is attached, but what you are seeing in the report will be the views of the panel, of the APRM panel. So that’s the version you have. It’s a version of the report, some comments incorporated from our initial response, comments received from APRM heads of states meeting in Ghana incorporated in the report. Does that cover you, Jan-Jan?

Journalist: Thanks, ja.

Themba Maseko: Okay, Pretoria. Ja. I think this will be the last question from Pretoria and then we will handover to the Minister.

Journalist: Thanks, Themba. Unfortunately I have to hammer on the issue of crime in the APRM report because that’s the one I quickly looked at, I mean there might be other issues. In the APRM forum the President said he took issue with the report, suggesting that there’s an unacceptable high level of violent crime. The President then apparently explained himself and said that, you know, that’s a populace perception. But then he goes on to criticise the statistics, police statistics that the APRM panel used, and he used a very… he used the rape statistics, saying yes giving an example of the rape statistics that the panel used and then going on to say incidents of rape might have been reported but some have resulted in acquittals. While government on several occasions on its own version said that rape is under-reported in the country. So, you know, what was the President trying to say there to the forum?

Themba Maseko: You’re asking me to second guess the President. A difficult task, but I think that my advice would be that you look at the report itself, the President’s comments on the report and report exactly as it is stated there. So I think that it would be inappropriate for me to try and interpret or explain what the President was saying.

Journalist: Thank you. So… I mean basically it says here that the… does the President then believe that the levels of violent crime in the country are not high.

Themba Maseko: Well, I can… I don’t want to second guess what the President has said at that particular meeting, but I can confirm that government position is that the high rate of crime in this country is totally unacceptable and that is why crime is indeed a priority. If you look at the government program of action, there’re a lot of initiatives that are in place to make sure that we accelerate our fight against crime. We did announce the proposed criminal justice system review, which in our view will put us in a better position to fight the scourge of crime in the country. So, yes, crime… high levels of crime is unacceptable in the country, and that is why we are putting so many resources to make sure that we accelerate the fight against crime. Minister, I think I’m going to hand over to you.

Issued by: Government Communications (GCIS)
6 December 2007