Mbeki's R90m wall causes outcry

2007-02-20 20:44

Johannesburg - Opposition parties demanded explanations on Tuesday for apparent plans to erect a R90m security wall for President Thabo Mbeki's official Pretoria residence.

The Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus said the reported move sent a message of double standards and insensitivity towards the plight of ordinary citizens.

Beeld reported earlier in the day that the wall would be imported, adding that the additional security measure for the president would "raise people's eyebrows" in view of Mbeki's view that crime was not out of control in South Africa.

The department of public works, responsible for projects such as the reported wall, remained silent on the matter.

Spokesperson Lucky Mochalibane told Sapa a statement would be sent later on Tuesday, but this did not materialise. Efforts to reach him by late afternoon were fruitless.

Parliamentary question

DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard said: "He (Mbeki) should tell us why he will have a wall built around his Pretoria house for such a massive amount while ordinary South Africans continue to suffer the effects of crime without such luxury."

FF+ leader Pieter Mulder expressed concern about the cost, and said he intended asking a parliamentary question on the matter.

"Ordinary citizens can't afford security companies and are at the mercy of burglaries or attacks by criminals every night," he said.

Barnard said Mbeki had continually denied that crime had become a national crisis and had said it was a perception, rather than a fact.

"If that is the case, then we should not be hearing about expensive imported walls," said Barnard.

She said the security wall should be viewed as an admission by the president that crime was out of control and that he, with all his existing security, felt unsafe in his official residence.

"It is very said that most South Africans live in daily fear of becoming victims of violent crime, while the governing African National Congress continues denying the problem from behind (its) high walls," Barnard said.

Sending out 'insensitive' message

"This issue raises several questions about the president's attitude towards ordinary citizens of this country."

Mulder said numerous requests by his party for private citizens' security expenses to be tax deductible had fallen on deaf ears.

"If the government is prepared to spend such amounts on a wall, at the same time, it is sending out a serious message of double standards and an insensitivity for the people's problems."

- SAPA