Mbeki highlights ‘gross mismanagement’ of SOEs, xenophobia at amaXhosa King Sigcawu’s funeral

The special official funeral of amaXhosa King Zwelonke Sigcawu took place in the Eastern Cape on Friday, with President Cyril Ramaphosa and former president Thabo Mbeki present.

Mbeki’s speech hailed King Sigcawu as “an outstanding leader of our people” but also did not skirt around South Africa’s current problems.

According to the former president, “these include such important matters as poverty, unemployment, inequality, violent crime – including crime against women and children, drought – which negatively affects millions of our people, [and] the scourge of corruption affecting both the public and private sectors”.

“The weakening of the organs of state… has resulted in a veritable crisis in terms of service delivery, the crisis of a stagnant economy which results in increasing the levels of poverty.

“The gross mismanagement of the state-owned corporations leading to multiple problems for the country and people, provocative attacks by negative forces in our midst against foreign nationals, and so on.

According to Mbeki, King Sigcawu “made the call that our country had the responsibility successfully to address exactly the challenges I have just mentioned” at his coronation in 2015.

President Ramaphosa said King Sigcawu “became the first king in South Africa to be crowned after the democratic recognition of traditional leadership”.

“We have lost a leader whose impact and influence extended beyond the borders. He strengthened working relations in countries such as Venezuela, Botswana, Estawini, Lesotho, Palestine and many more,” Ramaphosa said.

“During his short reign, he made remarkable strides in empowering communities and was a firm advocate for transformation.

“He was vocal about his disdain for flamboyance in the face of poverty.

“He passionately advocated for [the] development of young people. He firmly believed that women’s rights should be respected and affirmed by all of us, at all times,” the president said.

He also acknowledged the challenges mentioned by Mbeki but also highlighted what he said his government was doing to make the lives of all of South Africa’s communities better.

He promised better service delivery and greater cooperation between the different arms of government, as well as greater investment in the economies of communities across the country.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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