HEADLINE:   18president  

PUBLICATION: Cape Argus

  

PAGE NUMBER: 18

AUTHOR:     Zubeida Jaffer

DATE:       2001-02-08 06:45:01

A word in your ear, Mr President, before you address nation

Leading South Africans have a wish list they hope President Thabo Mbeki will consider before he delivers his State of the Nation address to parliament tomorrow morning. 

Special Writer Zubeida Jaffer spoke to some of them 

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

This is what Namane Magau wants President Thabo Mbeki to 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 wanted the president to say, taking into consideration the dominant national concerns.

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. 

"Mbeki has the prime responsibility of keeping the nation together," he said. "There will always be differences but he needs to remind us that, in spite 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."

Frederik Van Zyl Slabbert, political analyst and businessman, wants the government to come forward with an imaginative programme to create jobs. He adds a wish that appears on no other list. 

"I wish that the South African government would offer to repair 

the printing press blown up in Zimbabwe."

One of the greatest concerns is creating jobs to draw the unemployed into the economy. Vincent Maphai would like to see Mbeki unveil an economic plan for the century. 

Maphai is one of the leading political scientists in the country and is chairman of the SABC board. 

"Mbeki must say how the country is expected to perform and where job creation is going."

To help job creation, Magau would like to see 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 said she wanted to see him encourage key social partners in towns to come together across these sectors to decide how to expand the economy and create more 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."

Njabulo Ndebele, vice chancellor of the University of Cape Town, concurs. But at the top of his wish list is that Mbeki will keep the issue of Aids foremost in the public consciousness. 

"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 Mbeki would 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 re-state that he is not against the inquiry into corruption. But Ndebele also wants him to 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 to  enhancing the investigation which must take its course."

Elinor Sisulu, author and educationist, wants clarity on the arms deal. "I find we are 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 in the investigation into possible corruption in the arms deal has placed greater media diversity on the wish list. More needed to be done to ensure a wider diversity of voices were heard, said 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.

"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 wanted 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 was a wish for a clear commitment to the stated policies of non-racialism.

Mandla Langa, a writer of fiction and chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority, believes young people need a map to navigate the racial faultlines in society. 

"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. White immigrants do not face the same problems."

But for Magau, her strong wish for Mbeki to seek the common ground would help define the way to cope with racism. "We need to treasure our diversity, find the common ground and then even racial issues will be minimised."