Namane, this appears in the Cape Argus and Daily News tomorrow. 

ZUBEIDA JAFFER

SPECIAL WRITER

“People are looking for common ground. The president has to provide ways(for people) to engage together.”

This is what Dr Namane Magau wishes that President Thabo Mbeki will do when he

opens parliament tomorrow. Magau, who is executive vice-president of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) was one of a number of leading South Africans who drew up a wish list of what they felt the president needed to say, taking into consideration the dominant national concerns.

Professor Jakes Gerwel had a list of one. “He must address the question of unity.”

Gerwel is head of the board of trustees of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. “He has the prime responsibility of keeping the nation together,” he said. “There will always be differences but he needs to remind us that inspite of this, we are one.  I would like to see him recapture the spirit of his “I am an African” speech  made when the

constitution was adopted.”

One of the greatest concerns is creating  jobs to draw the unemployed into economy. Dr Vincent Maphai  would like to see him unveil an economic plan for the century. Maphai is one of the leading political scientists in the country and presently chairperson of the SABC board. “Mbeki must say how the country is expected to perform and where job

creation is going.”

Dr Van Zyl Slabbert wishes the government to come forward with an imaginative

programme to create jobs.  Slabbert is a both political analyst and businessman.

He adds  a wish which appears on no other list. "I wish that the South African

government offers to repair the printing press blown up in Zimbabwe."

The concern for job creation prompts Dr Magau  to seek incentives for public-private

partnerships.  At the opening of parliament a year ago, Mbeki emphasised the need for

such partnerships and  identified four working groups which he had set up  - big

business, the trade union federation, black business and the agricultural sector.

Drawing on her experience in the United States, Magau urges  him to encourage key

social partners in towns to come together across these key sectors to decide how to

grow the economy and jobs. “The broad frameworks are in place but we need to

mobilise key people who command resources at every level,” she said. “We don’t know how to collaborate for our own interests. It  ultimately needs locals to use their

resources and harness whatever there is to create jobs.”

Professor Njabulo Ndebele concurs. But at the top of his wish list is that Mbeki will keep the issue of AIDS foremost in the public consciousness. Ndebele is principal of the University of Cape Town. “It is important to give the public confidence that the government is sufficiently serious and on top of the issue,’ he said. 

Those interviewed wished that he confine himself to practical issues around AIDS,

avoiding the kind of polemics which bedevilled the public discourse last year.

Another sticky point is the arms deal. There is the wish for Mbeki to restate that he not against the inquiry into corruption. But for  Ndebele, he wished him stay out of the Heath debate.   “The whole thing needs to be disentangled from the person of Judge Heath,” said Ndebele. “This would go a long way in enhancing the investigation which must take its course.”

Elinor Sisulu wants clarity on the arms deal. There needs to be a recommitment to

clean government.  Sisulu is an author and educationist. “I find that the public is not

getting the kind of assurances we deserve,” she said. “Apart from the controversy, the

arms deal is about the question of priorities. If there is to be a real renaissance,

attention has to be given to investment into social reconstruction. It will make a big

difference if the president clarifies the situation.”

The controversy around Judge Heath’s participation into possible corruption in the arms deal has placed greater media diversity onto the wish list. More needs to be done to ensure a wider diversity of voices are heard, said Professor Ndebele. “Compare South Africa to Nigeria and you will find that the media environment here is very restrictive,” he said. “The dominant voices are still white-controlled.  There have to be more opportunities for more voices to be heard especially in some of the African languages,” he said. “Certain dominant interpretations have an effect of a skewed definition of the broad South African viewpoint. This might result in a skewed understanding of what is essentially a complex situation.”

He wishes to see Mbeki call for the establishment of more newspapers and other forms of media to allow a wide-range of South Africans to express themselves.

At the same time, there is a wish for a clear commitment to the stated policies of

non-racialism which sometimes are blurred by ongoing tensions.

Mandla Langa believes young people need a map to navigate the racial fault-lines 

in this society. Langa is a writer of fiction and chairperson of the Independent

Communications Authority of South Africa. Broadcast Authority.  “The president needs to be bold and upfront to ask people to move away from notions of racial superiority,” he said. There needs to be a deeper discussion and less rhetoric around the issue of race because of a possible polarisation in the country. We will die by it or live by it.”

Concern over building a non-racial society brings the wish for a “much finer statement on xenophobia.” “It is important for South Africans to realise that African communities that are settling here, bring very important riches in culture and in other ways,”said Ndebele. “”We need to have a more positive disposition especially towards those who are black,” he said. “White immigrants do not face the same problems.”

But for Magau, her strong wish for Mbeki to seek the common ground will help define the map to navigate the  racial fault-lines. “We need to treasure our diversity, find the common ground and then even racial issues will be minimised,” she said.

 

ends