Issued by: South African Communication Service
MEDIA RELEASE BY MINISTER S N SIGCAU, MP, MINISTER FOR PUBLIC ENTERPRISES CONCERNING THE BRUSSELS CONFERENCE ON "THE EU TRADE AND INVESTMENT CONFERENCE ON SOUTHERN AFRICA," FRIDAY 20 OCTOBER 1995 - PRETORIA
In the past week two articles have appeared ("Sigcau snubs Brussels conference," Business Report, 18 Oct and "Sigcau inefficient, arrogant," Business Day, Fri Oct 20) which are inaccurate and misleading.
In view of this, I write to set out the facts relating to my recent decision not to attend the Brussels Conference on EU-Southern Africa Relations hosted by the Club de Bruxelles.
The Government is currently embarking on a process of restructuring and transforming our public enterprises in order to deliver more and higher quality products and services to all South Africans. My Ministry is charged with the responsibility for managing and co-ordinating this process and next week I will be announcing a nationwide programme of consultation to take this work forward. This is clearly a national priority and has imposed heavy demands on my time and that of the personnel of my Ministry.
As far as the conference is concerned, I was originally invited to address the topic of the "Role of State Enterprises", in my capacity as Public Enterprises Minister. I saw this as an excellent opportunity to tell other world leaders what we in South Africa were doing to revitalise our great public enterprises. When it became clear that the focus of the conference was instead on trade negotiations, I reluctantly decided - given the urgency and importance of the restructuring initiative in South Africa - courteously to decline the invitation.
The decision was not taken lightly and only after lengthy discussions both with my team and the conference organisers. I regret any inconvenience that this may have caused, particularly as the EU is one of South Africa's most important trading partners, whose vital contribution to our economy and politics is highly valued.
DP spokesman Kobus Jordaan's personal attack on what he calls my "typical Transkeian arrogance and inefficiency" is deeply offensive to the people of this country and reflects his complete ignorance of the significance of the restructuring task. We are not going to allow the remnants of colonialism to dictate the pace of change in this country. This department is embarking on a consultative process withe the broad masses of our people, for which I am personally responsible. I take that responsibility far too seriously to engage in bankrupt accusations and sensationalism to score political points.
S N SIGCAU MINISTER