President Thabo Mbeki last year approved 477 foreign visits by government ministers, gave 515 pardons and concluded 195 international agreements, according to the Presidency’s Annual Report released on Monday.
The report highlights the work of the Presidency and its three political heads: Mbeki, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad.
It gives some insight into the type and amount of work done by the President and the others, which includes the attending of 20 Cabinet meetings, several dozen Cabinet committee meetings, the awarding of national orders, acceptance of letters of credence from diplomats and the approval of Bills and agreements.
All in all Mbeki performed 1 529 executive acts in the financial year from April 2006 to March 2007.
But Director General in the Presidency Frank Chikane said that while some of these might have grabbed the news headlines, much of the work done by the Presidency was lost to the public because news reports were ”missing the point”.
”When you look at the Presidency and government over the last 13 years, something has been happening [beyond] the sound bytes and the headlines,” Chikane said.
”Below those headlines and sound bytes I want to suggest that you’ve got substance and that substance normally gets missed,” Chikane said.
The 184-page Annual Report focuses on what it calls the ”key themes in the work of the Presidency” — which includes the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa and the Joint Initiative for Priority Skill Acquisition, as well as programmes on improving quality of life, improving governance and capacity, building safer communities and work in the international arena.
It also explains in great detail the work done by the various offices and units working in the Presidency.
The Annual Report will be publicly available on the Presidency website: www.thepresidency.gov.za. — Sapa