Opposition parties should refrain from trying to score cheap political points, the Office of the Presidency said on Friday.
Spokesperson Bheki Khumalo denied that President Thabo Mbeki’s upcoming trip to KwaZulu-Natal is part of the African National Congress’s election campaign.
News that Mbeki will feature on a one-hour radio phone-in show on South Africa’s largest station, Ukhozi FM, while in KwaZulu-Natal next week drew outrage from opposition parties on Thursday.
However, Khumalo said that Mbeki will be sharing the slot with KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali. Mtshali is a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party.
He was particularly scathing of comments made by the IFP’s Suzanne Vos on Thursday.
”I am surprised by her party comments since their premier will share the slot with the president. If Suzanne Vos had bothered to check she would have known that her premier was included.”
Vos had said it was clear that the SABC had been taking instructions from the Government Communications and Information System and had been told to cover ANC events, dressed up as government-meets-the-people events.
Khumalo said that this will be the seventh time that Mbeki has visited a province and interacted with the public on a radio show.
”The president, with the premier, will take questions from the public on projects and problems in the province,” he said.
He said political parties should get their facts right before making misinformed statements.
Mbeki and the ANC has come under attack in recent weeks after the SABC broadcast the launch of the parties manifesto. Opposition parties have become increasingly upset as the SABC has defended its actions by claiming it had to counter the negative media that the president receives in other press.
The Democratic Alliance has said that the SABC should facilitate debates between the different parties.
”The DA is very happy to have the president of the ANC being afforded broadcast time. But the proviso is that the leader of the DA should be given a similar reasonable opportunity,” said DA election spokesperson Douglas Gibson.
Gibson said an election is about debating real issues.
”There cannot be a debate if the ANC merely declares its policies and promises and the opposition is denied airtime to subject these promises to scrutiny,” he said. — Sapa