President Cyril Ramaphosa has described the confrontation outside Brackenfell High School in Cape Town as deeply regrettable, and has called on all parties involved to act responsibly.

On Monday, 09 November 2020, a violent confrontation broke out between a group of parents from the school and members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). 

The EFF members were protesting against alleged racism at the school.

“At this most important and difficult time for matriculants not only at Brackenfell High School but around the country, the spectacle of parents and protestors coming to blows at the school gate is deeply unfortunate,” President Ramaphosa said.

“It is the right of every South African to engage in peaceful protest, and any actions to suppress the right to freedom of expression, particularly through violence and intimidation, must be roundly condemned,” the President said.

“What happened today brings back hurtful memories of a past we should never seek to return to,” President Ramaphosa said.

The President added that allegations of racism levelled against the school needed to be urgently investigated.

“We should be ever mindful of the extent to which our actions, both publicly and in private, undermine the cherished principle of non-racialism upon which our democracy was founded,” President Ramaphosa said.

The President has called on all parties concerned to exercise restraint and to resolve their differences peacefully and through dialogue.

“We should not allow what has transpired at Brackenfell High School to be used by any groupings who want to cause racial polarisation,” the President said.


Media enquiries: Tyrone Seale, Acting Spokesperson to the President – media@presidency.gov.za 

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa calls for restraint in Brackenfell 10 Nov

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on the matter of public and gender-based violence in a message that will be broadcast on radio and television at 18h00 today, Thursday 5 September 2019.

The broadcast follows a personal address by the President earlier today to thousands of protesters who had marched to Parliament to express their anger at gender-based violence.

The President welcomed the protesters’ demands for tougher measures against men who abuse women and assured demonstrators that the criminal  justice system will deal more harshly with perpetrators.


Media enquiries:Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707
 
Issued by:The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has on behalf of the government and people of South Africa expressed his sincere condolences to the people and government of the Republic of Zimbabwe following the passing of Founding President Robert Gabriel Mugabe.

President Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s first post-independence President, passed away in Singapore at the age of 95.

Paying tribute to President Mugabe, President Ramaphosa said: “South Africans join the people and government of Zimbabwe in mourning the passing of a liberation fighter and champion of Africa’s cause against colonialism.

“Under President Mugabe’s leadership, Zimbabwe’s sustained and valiant struggle against colonialism inspired our own struggle against apartheid and  built in us the hope that one day South Africa too would be free.

“During the decades of our own struggle, Zimbabwe’s liberation movement supported our own liberation movement to fight oppression on multiple fronts. After Zimbabwe achieved independence, the apartheid state brutalised and violated Zimbabwe as punishment for supporting our own Struggle.

“Many Zimbabweans paid with their lives so that we could be free. We will never forget or dishonor this sacrifice and solidarity.”

Early in his life, President Mugabe won a scholarship to Fort Hare University where he obtained the first of his seven academic degrees.

President Ramaphosa also acknowledged the role President Mugabe had played in advancing regional solidarity, integration and development through Zimbabwe’s participation in the Southern African Development Community.


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President – 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his sadness at the passing away of former Springbok rugby wing Chester Williams who passed away today, Friday 6 September 2019, at the age of 49.

Chester Williams earned national and international acclaim with his contribution, alongside that of recently deceased wing James Small, to South  Africa’s triumph in the historic 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Most recently, Mr Williams established himself as a highly successful coach who led the University of the Western Cape to victory in the 2017 Varsity    Shield.

President Ramaphosa has offered his sincerest condolences to the family, friends, former teammates and teams with whom Williams shared his life.

“Chester Williams’s death at this tender age leaves all South Africans bereft of a rugby hero and national role model who still had a great deal to offer his sport and his country,” said President Ramaphosa.

“We will miss the humility and joy of life with which Chester conducted himself during an illustrious career that inspired hundreds of thousands of South African children who had previously been excluded from rugby, to take up the game.

“We salute him for the extraordinary achievements he recorded in a life that has sadly ended prematurely.”
 

Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President – 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a Special Provincial Funeral in honour of the late former Robben Islander and Western Cape veteran Mr Vincent Diba, who has passed at the age of 59.

President Ramaphosa has declared a Special Provincial Funeral (Category 2), which entails ceremonial elements provided by the South African Police Service.

The funeral service will take place at Zolani Center in Nyanga East at 09h00 on Saturday, 7 September 2019.

Mr Vuyisile Vincent Diba was born on 15 September 1959 in the Mau-Mau location of Nyanga East; He was the fifth child of the late Jackie Mpunzima  Diba and Lienna Nongenile Diba.

Mr Diba is a past provincial vice-chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC) and was a member of the first Western Cape legislature of the democratic dispensation.

Mr Diba, who lived in NY 5 in Gugulethu with his family, was steeped in liberation politics and was imprisoned on Robben Island for eight years as part of an 11-year sentence.

He headed the ANC Western Cape policy committee, served on the organisation’s national peace and stability sub-committee, and undertook also did an officer’s training course in India and Denmark in preparation for the integration of the statutory and non-statutory forces in South Africa.
In his early life, Mr Diba studied at John Pama Primary School and and matriculated at Langa High School in 1979.

He completed a degree from Robben Island in 1986. In 2004 he graduated from the University of South Africa as a social worker.

Diba also had a passion for playing rugby and became active in the ex-political prisoners association and Makana ferries business before being employed at the Robben Island Museum where he served as a school and public programme officer until ailing health caused him to retire in December 2017.


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President on 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari will undertake a State Visit to South Africa in October 2019 to reinforce the strong bonds between the two countries and jointly develop responses to challenges affecting people and businesses in South Africa and Nigeria.

In the wake of public violence in South Africa and developments in Nigeria around South African businesses based in the West African country, President  Cyril Ramaphosa held discussions yesterday, Friday 6 September 2019, with Ambassador Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, Special envoy of The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari.

The visit to Pretoria by the Special Envoy followed a recent meeting between Presidents Ramaphosa and Buhari in Yokohama, Japan, on the sidelines  of the Summit of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. 

In yesterday’s discussion, the Special Envoy conveyed President Buhari’s concern at recent events in South Africa, in the context of the strong and cordial relations that characterise the interaction between the two countries. 

President Buhari conveyed his commitment to the values of prosperity and the advancement of Africa that are shared by South Africa and Nigeria. 

Nigeria stands ready to assist South Africa in establishing the root causes of and developing sustainable solutions to the challenges concerned. 

President Buhari has undertaken that where challenges emerge in Nigeria, the Nigerian government will act against lawlessness and the targeting of South African assets in Nigeria. 

President Ramaphosa reaffirmed South Africa-Nigeria relations as being firm and strong and said  the two partners were resolute in their shared commitment to build an Africa at peace with itself and others.


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President – 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned in the strongest terms a resurgence of public violence that claimed two lives in Johannesburg yesterday, Sunday 08 September 2019.

The President has also expressed his condolences to the families of the two persons who were reportedly and respectively stabbed and shot – the latter incident involving a large group of armed attackers.

The President has called on law enforcement agencies to maintain vigilance and firmness in dealing with individuals or groups who take the law into their own hands and violate the dignity rights of people without raising grievances with the relevant authorities.

President Ramaphosa applauded law enforcement agencies for arresting at least 16 people during yesterday’s operations to bring calm and order to Johannesburg.

“Government will not allow sporadic lawlessness and violence to disrupt the safety and livelihoods of millions of South Africans and the majority of foreign nationals in our country who are law-abiding and have the right to conduct their lives and businesses in peace,” said the President.

“Lawlessness, injury and death inflict a great psychological and economic cost that lasts long after victims are buried, arrests are made and streets are cleared. This cost holds back our country and undermines all the efforts we are making to grow a South Africa that offers opportunity to all who live in it.

“Lawlessness is a crime against our prosperity and stability as a nation, and those who want to upset our public order must expect to face the gravest impact of the law.”


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President – 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to anti-apartheid activist Adelaine Hain – mother of global human rights activist and senior British politician Lord Hain - who has passed away aged 92.

Born in Port Alfred, Adelaine Hain made her mark in defying apartheid and assisting oppressed communities – a commitment to which the apartheid State responded by banning her and later her husband, Walter, before forcing them into exile in the United Kingdom.

“Banning orders and arrests failed to extinguish Adelaine Hain’s patriotic struggle against an unjust system. She deserves our respect and gratitude for  mobilising her own family as much as she mobilised communities to dismantle apartheid,” said President Ramaphosa.

The President has offered his sincerest condolences to Lord Hain and his family. Walter Hain passed away in 2016.


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President – 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has honoured the late rugby hero, Chester Mornay Williams, with a declaration of a Special Provincial Official Funeral (Category 2).

The 49-year-old veteran of the 1995 Rugby World Cup – and the first player of colour to represent the Springboks since the 1980s – passed away on Friday, 6 September 2019. Most recently, he was coach of the University of the Western Cape rugby side.

Mr Williams’ funeral will be held at the Newlands Rugby Stadium in Cape Town at 12h00 on Saturday 14 September 2019 and will, in terms of the  declaration by the President, contain ceremonial elements that will provided by the South African Police Service.

President Ramaphosa has also instructed that the National Flag fly at half-mast in the Western Cape Province on the day of the funeral of Mr Chester Mornay Williams.

When the National Flag is half-masted, it should first be hoisted to the top of the flagstaff and then slowly lowered one third of the length of the flagpost from the top of the flagstaff.

Before the flag is lowered at sunset, or at the appointed time, it should first be hoisted to the top of the flagstaff.

Regulations require that no other flags (eg SAPS, SANDF, corporate flags etc) should be displayed when the National Flag is flown at half-mast.


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President – 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has in terms of Section 174(4) of the Constitution appointed Judge Zukisa Laura Lumka Tshiqi and Judge Stevan Arnold Majiedt as Judges of the Constitutional Court with effect from 1 October 2019.

The President has made these appointments after consulting the Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa and the leaders of the parties represented in the National Assembly.

In terms of section 174(4) of the Constitution, the President, as head of the National Executive, appoints Judges of the Constitutional Court following consultation with the Chief Justice and leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly.

President Ramaphosa appointed Judges Tshiqi and Majiedt from a list of five nominees prepared by the Judicial Services Commission. The Commission conducted interviews in April 2019 following the discharge from active service of former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke and Justice Bess Nkabinde.

President Ramaphosa has expressed his confidence that Justices Tshiqi and Majiedt will further enrich jurisprudence at the apex Court which has served the nation with distinction throughout the democratic dispensation.

Judge Tshiqi, 58, holds a B Proc degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Labour Law.

She started her legal career as a Legal Coordinator at the South African Council of Churches from 1986 to 1989. She served her articles from 1989 to 1991 and practised as an attorney until 2005 when she was appointed as a Judge of the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Johannesburg. 

Prior to her permanent appointment, Judge Tshiqi served on a part-time basis as a mediator, facilitator, and arbitrator under the Independent Mediation Service of South Africa (IMSSA), and at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as well as a Mediator in the Land Claims Commission.

She acted at the Competition Appeal Court from 2007 to 2009. She was later appointed at the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2009. She has an acting stint at the Constitutional Court from November 2014 to May 2015.

Judge Majiedt, 58, holds the BA Law and LLB degrees from the University of the Western Cape. He was admitted as an advocate in 1984 and practised as such until 1995 when he was appointed as a Chief Provincial State Law Adviser in the Northern Cape Office of the Premier from 1996 to 1999.

In January 2000, Judge Majiedt returned to private practice as an advocate and this culminated in his appointment as an Acting Judge of the Northern Cape Division of the High Court. It was during that year that he was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Northern Cape Division of the High Court.

In December 2010, Judge Majiedt was appointed as a permanent Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Judge Majiedt acted at the Constitutional Court from February to May 2014.

He also served as a member of the National Association of the Democratic Lawyers (NADEL) from 1986 to 2000. He is the current Chairperson of the Rules Board for the Courts of Law and also a Council Member of the South African Judicial Education Institute (SAJEI). Additionally, he is the Chancellor of the Sol Plaatje University.


Media enquiries: Khusela Diko, Spokesperson to the President – 072 854 5707

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria