The handover of a controversial report drawn up by an African Union watchdog into standards of governance in South Africa was postponed indefinitely on Thursday, officials said.
President Thabo Mbeki was expected to have received the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) team report at a ceremony in his office in Pretoria to which journalists had been invited before the last-minute cancellation.
“The postponement was due to other urgent government matters that President Mbeki needed to attend to,” presidential spokesperson Sam Bopape told Agence France-Presse.
“Journalists will be informed when a new date for the presentation of the report is set.”
Newspapers have said the report, which was initially expected to have been presented at an African Union summit in January, is heavily critical of Mbeki’s government for failing to tackle one of the world’s highest crime rates. ‒ AFP