RAMAPHOSA PRAISED BY FOREIGN DIPLOMATS

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa was praised yesterday by members of the diplomatic corps in Pretoria when he and Minister Lindiwe Sisulu addressed foreign heads of mission at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation.

“We applaud the fact that within six months of entering office you are addressing the diplomatic corps for the second time,” said the dean of the diplomatic corps, the Democratic Republic of the Congo ambassador Bene M’poko.

Ramaphosa used the occasion to highlight the responsible way in which the South African government intends to deal with land reform, to allay concerns within the international community. “The national debate on land reform has attracted attention in South Africa and drawn attention in other countries,” Ramaphosa said.

“Land reform will be undertaken in an orderly manner so that it advances the interests of all our people.”

Highlighting the fact that it is being debated in the South African Parliament as to whether Section 25 of the Constitution needs to be amended in order to allow for expropriation of land without compensation, Ramaphosa praised the high levels of public participation in the debate.

“We had 1.2 million inputs into the drafting of the Constitution, now we have had almost 700 000 submissions,” Ramaphosa told diplomats.

“This represents South Africa’s DNA, that whenever there are important issues, South Africans will talk and build consensus.”

Ramaphosa underlined the fact that the world thought that the land issue in South Africa was an intractable issue, but that the country would come up with a “South African-made” solution.

Central to Ramaphosa’s message was that the South African government is working hard to improve the investment climate to ensure policy certainty and consistency. The government is working not only to improve the performance of the economy, but to improve the functioning of stateowned enterprises which contribute 30% to the economy, he explained.