TOURISM minister and presidential hopeful Lindiwe Sisulu has rejected the statement from the Presidency saying she apologised for attacking judges.
This after the Presidency claimed Sisulu apologised for her comments on the judiciary.
In a statement on Thursday night, Sisulu said the Presidency statement misrepresented her meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Sisulu, who is campaigning to challenge Ramaphosa at the ANC’s national conference in December, vehemently denied issuing a retraction.
She said she stood by her article.
“I wish to categorically disown this statement in its entirety as a misrepresentation of the said meeting I had with the president. The president and I met on Wednesday at 21:00 at his house,” she said in a statement.
“In such a meeting, he shared his challenge with one aspect of the article on the judges. The president proposed an intermediary that would focus on the one line about the judges to resolve that. I awaited such to be communicated, which would do nothing to the entire article.”
“Under no circumstances did I commit to any retraction or apology since I stand by what I penned. The content of the president’s statement in its current form is unfortunate as it is not what we agreed on. In this regard, I wish to distance myself from such.”
Earlier, Presidency announced in a statement on Thursday that Sisulu had apologised for lambasting the South African judiciary, conceding that her comments were ‘inappropriate’.
According to the statement, Sisulu apologised and retracted her comments after a meeting with Ramaphosa in Cape Town earlier this week, where he allegedly admonished her about her recent article entitled “Hi Mzansi, have we seen justice?” published on 7 January 2022.
The Presidency said Sisulu retracted her statement and affirms her support for the judiciary.
“I accept that my column has levelled against the judiciary and African judges in particular unsubstantiated, gratuitous and deeply hurtful comments,” said Sisulu.
“I retract unequivocally my hurtful comments. I recognise that many women and men judges past and present have served their country in the judiciary with dedication and patriotism and some have made sterling sacrifices in the fight against apartheid and colonialism.”
She added: “I apologise for and regret the hurt I have caused the judiciary.”
According to the Presidency, Ramaphosa specifically admonished the minister about her attack on the judiciary when she said: “Today, in the high echelons of our judicial system are those mentally colonised Africans, who have settled with the worldview and mindset of those who have dispossessed their ancestors.
“They are only too happy to lick the spittle of those who falsely claim superiority. The lack of confidence that permeates their rulings against their own speaks very loudly, while others, secure in their agenda, clap behind closed doors.”
However, Sisulu told the media that she is not apologising for her column on the Constitution.
She’s distanced herself from the retraction of her statement on the matter, issued by the Presidency, saying she stands by what she wrote.
She further claimed that the Presidency had misrepresented the conversation they had about this.
The Presidency said late on Thursday it stood by its earlier statement.
“The Presidency stands by its statement earlier this evening, 20 January 2022, on a discussion between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of Tourism Ms Lindiwe Sisulu. The Presidency has nothing to add to the earlier statement,” said the statement.
- Inside Politics
