Building a non-racial society was one of South Africa’s greatest challenges, but nowhere was it more challenging than in the Western Cape, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday. There was a greater sensitivity to issues of race in the region than anywhere else in the country, he told a media briefing in Cape Town, following a two-day meeting of the African National Congress’s (ANC) Western Cape provincial executive committee.
”The greatest challenge that we face in the country with regard to … development of a non-racial society, is here in the Western Cape. What is being done here, and will be done here … is bigger than of provincial importance.
”We have to make progress in this area, and I am sure that will happen, and impact nationally.”
Asked why the he believed the challenge was greatest in the Western Cape, Mbeki said it was the only province that had ”Africans” in a minority.
There was also an ”old history” of Coloured labour preference in the region.
When it came to allocating resources in the province, this needed to be done ”in a way that doesn’t communicate a message that democracy means discrimination against a certain section of the population”.
There were certain ”features” found in the Western Cape, as a result of its history, which were less pronounced elsewhere.
”You would also find … a greater sensitivity to race questions in the Western Cape than anywhere else in the country. They’re much closer to the surface, and this comes from the way this particular part of the country developed during the years of apartheid,” he said.
Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool told journalists race issues ”remained a contest during elections” in the province.
”Parties exploit the fears of people, rather than their hopes. We have seen this in every election. They exploit the fears particularly of the Coloured people,” he said.
This represented an ”extraordinary challenge” for the ANC.
”How does it remain true to its principles [and] not be tempted into also mobilising race in order to achieve electoral objectives?” he asked.
Asked about recent reports of division among ANC leaders in the Western Cape, Mbeki said there was no division in the province.
Ahead of elections earlier this year, the Western Cape ANC was reported to be deeply divided between two camps — one loyal to Rasool and the other to ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha. Skwatsha was present at Sunday’s media briefing.
‘How else do we improve the function of government?
Meanwhile, Mbeki said suggestions that the government was planning to reduce the number of provinces were not correct.
”There isn’t any such thinking in the ANC. There is no conclusion of that kind that anybody has reached,” he told the briefing.
The Sunday Times reported South Africa’s nine provinces and legislatures were set to be scrapped in favour of four or five regions.
Mbeki said the government had been looking at the effectiveness of the country’s governance system, and what needed to be done to improve it.
”It may very well be functions that reside in provincial government that really ought to be done by municipalities. Or it may be … there are certain matters that reside with provincial governments but can be handled by metros.
”So the review was not informed by ‘we must reduce the number of provinces’. It was informed by ‘how else do we improve the function of government, and so let’s also look at this system of provincial government’,” he said.
Mbeki also said the country was not about to descend into a state of lawlessness, despite the high crime levels.
However, something needed to be done about the ”entrenched” level of violence in the country.
Rapport newspaper on Sunday reported that business magnate Johann Rupert, in a meeting with the president last week, had told Mbeki crime in South Africa had reached a crisis point.
The newspaper quoted Rupert as saying there was great danger that crime could see the country descend into general lawlessness, as had happened in Colombia.
Mbeki said what Rupert had in fact told him at the meeting was: ”President, I agree with you, [when you say] there is something in this society, which entrenches a level of violence … that is unacceptable.”
The president said Rupert had been referring to something he [Mbeki] had said last week, when he had spoken on crime at a meeting of the National House of Traditional Leaders (NHTL) in Cape Town.
Mbeki told the NHTL almost 80% of murders in South Africa were committed by people who knew their victim, and most occurred over weekends in situations where people had been drinking.
Mbeki denied the country was sinking into lawlessness.
”There wasn’t any suggestion the country’s about to drop into the Atlantic Ocean because of crime,” he said. – Sapa