Mbeki slams 'doomsayers'

2004-02-06 13:44

Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki on Friday criticised "traditional doomsayers" trying to frighten South Africans with rumours, apparently dismissing claims he intended seeking a third term as president.

In a wide-ranging state of the nation address at Parliament's opening, he urged citizens to continue the task of nation building, saying it was clear the sustained calls for all to respond to a new patriotism had struck a chord among South Africans, black and white.

However, the exceptions were the "most selfish and self-centred among us".

Mbeki said the "traditional doomsayers are back at their favourite sport of trying to frighten us with scarecrows".

They were painting monstrous pictures of impending violence during the coming elections, and radical constitutional amendments after the elections by the very people who drafted the constitution.

He was apparently referring to the Democratic Alliance's claim that the ANC might change the Constitution to give Mbeki a third term of office.

Mbeki said: "The masses of our people sacrificed everything to achieve peace and democracy for all of us. These masses will not allow that desperate politicians do desperate things to win or retain power for themselves."

He also warned "those among us who are fond of threatening violence to promote their causes" that the masses of the people were ready and willing to sacrifice once again, to defend the peace and keep alive the sense of hope that enabled them to behave in "mysteriously miraculous ways".

South Africans should continue building a sense of national unity and foster a new patriotism as the country entered a second decade of liberation.

"Working together, in conditions of entrenched democracy, respect for human rights, peace and stability, we must continue to produce the good news that has made our country a place of hope."

The policies and programmes for achieving the goals of the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfilment, and the continuous extension of the frontiers of the freedom, of which former president Nelson Mandela spoke a decade ago, were in place, Mbeki said.

Although almost ten years after its liberation from white minority rule South Africa still faced many challenges, great strides had been made to ensure a better life for all.

- SAPA