Mac Maharaj says Jacob Zuma was explaining that it was not fair to make the whole country pay for Gauteng's roads. (Gallo)
"The presidency has noted reports in certain media suggesting that President Jacob Zuma insinuated that Africans were backward and that they should stop thinking like 'Africans in Africa and accept that Gauteng roads were not like some national road in Malawi or Pietermaritzburg or Rustenburg'," said presidential spokesperson Mac Maharaj on Tuesday.
"The words have regrettably been taken out of context and blown completely out of proportion."
Zuma was speaking at the Gauteng ANC's manifesto forum in Johannesburg on Monday night.
In a clip on the EyeWitness News website, Zuma is heard saying: "We can't think like Africans, in Africa, generally. We are in Johannesburg, this is Johannesburg. It's not some national road in Malawi."
Maharaj said Zuma was explaining that it was not fair to make the whole country pay for Gauteng's roads.
He said Zuma used an example by saying it was not fair to compare Gauteng roads to roads in other towns such as "Pietermaritzburg, Rustenburg, Polokwane or any other town or national road in Malawi as this was Gauteng, the heartbeat of South Africa's economy and an international city of commerce and business".
"The remarks were made in the broader context of South Africa achieving more in the past 19 years of freedom and democracy," Maharaj said.
'Fair and balanced reporting'
The ANC on Tuesday agreed with the presidency that Zuma's comments had been taken out of context.
"The African National Congress welcomes the role played by traditional and social media in our national discourse," said spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.
"It is important, therefore, that those privileged to form opinion on these networks do so with the intention of promoting fair and balanced reporting, a call we believe would not have arisen had the president's comments been placed in context." – Sapa