Proceeds from this year’s Presidential Golf Challenge will support 622 adopted schools and contribute to improving education infrastructure, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday, as he teed off at the annual fundraising event.
Held a day after he delivered the State of the Nation Address (SONA), the golf challenge was held at the Atlantic Beach Golf Estate and raises funds for the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation through its Adopt-a-School programme, which supports school development initiatives alongside government.
Explaining the purpose of the initiative, the President said it is a long-standing tradition that after the (SONA), every President over the decades has been afforded the opportunity to host a golf day.
“Proceeds thereof go to the charity that the President supports. And in this case, I started a charity called Adopt-a-School with my Chief of Staff about 30 years ago or so, and that charity continues and now that I am a President it is a beneficiary of the work we do.
"It [has] adopted 622 schools and it's participating in the improvement of education alongside our government. So, the proceeds today as every golfer hits a ball or misses a ball, it is going to contribute to that charity,” he explained.
He said that they were lucky to have sponsors like Sasol and MTN, which are the anchor sponsors for the golf day.
“We've always enjoyed their support in everything we do. So, they are not captured, they have not captured us. If anything, they are making a contribution to the success of our education system.”
He added that funds raised from the golf day will go towards improving school infrastructure, including sanitation facilities.
SANDF deployment
Turning to security matters, President Ramaphosa championed his decision to deploy the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to support police in gang-affected areas as announced in Thursday’s SONA.
“Well, if you listen to me very carefully, which I hope you did last night, I did say that I have decided to deploy the soldiers, and I have directed the Minister of Police to work with the Minister of Defence to work out the full plan and the timing as well must be worked out in the next few days.
“I also did say I will be approaching Parliament. I'll be informing Parliament and informing them that this is the step I am taking in terms of our Constitution, and I will also be informing them what it will cost. So, the costings are still to be worked out. They'll be worked out between now and the next few days,” the President said.
However, operational details would not be disclosed publicly.
“And the interventions, we are not going to tell you, because if we tell you about the type of tactical intervention, those people who are doing wrong things, the gangs will now know in advance what we are going to do. We are going to keep the interventions to ourselves, and the soldiers and the police will make those interventions as effectively as possible.”
He emphasised that soldiers would support, and not replace, the South African Police Service (SAPS).
“Our soldiers will act in support of the South African Police Service in troubled areas, particularly here in the Western Cape to deal with gang violence, and also in Gauteng, they have done extremely well whenever they have been deployed alongside the police, and they give confidence to our people, and they are a deterrent force.
“You must know that the soldiers are not police people. Soldiers are trained to kill and to defend the people of South Africa, and in this case, they'll be defending the peace. They'll be defending anti criminality, and that is what they will be doing,” the President said.
The President added that the SAPS had been performing well and that the deployment was meant to strengthen ongoing operations.
“The SAPS has been doing extremely well. They've been doing very well in various of the projects or missions like [Operation] Shanela. They have done extremely well, our jails are now filled to overcapacity because of the success that they have been recording now with the Western Cape, it's been persistent.”
He explained that government has set up an anti-gang team, and they've been working very well.
“They need support. It should never be looked at from a negative point of view, if anything, we should be very pleased that we are bringing all the might of the state to bear to deal with a persistent problem, gang violence has been going on in the Western Cape for a long time.
“We want to eliminate gang violence once and for all, and the South African National Defence Force will help us in playing that role,” he said.
Water and municipal intervention
On water challenges, President Ramaphosa said national government would step in where municipalities fail to deliver services.
“We have a constitutional situation that devolve the reticulation of water to our local government. Now we allocate money to our local government, and they are supposed to maintain, they're supposed to ensure that there's reticulation,” he said.
Referring to previous intervention efforts, the President recalled his visit to Hammanskraal where the waterworks was not well looked after.
“I called on the Tshwane municipality to do their work and when they didn't, we intervened. We intervened and made sure that water is delivered to the people in Hammanskraal. That process continues now,” he said.
He indicated that legislative mechanisms would now be used more decisively.
“What I said yesterday is that we have now realised that rather than have our people without water and be punished by the lack of activity or delivery by municipalities, we are now going to intervene, and we will use a section in the Water Act to intervene,” the President said.
Foreign policy position
On foreign policy, the President reaffirmed South Africa’s stance on Palestine and peacekeeping.
“Everybody knows what South Africa stance is with regard to supporting the people of Palestine, with regard to their self-determination, and supporting also a two state solution, where Israel will continue to exist as a state and the establishment of Palestine as a state, and the two states living side by side in peace and with Jerusalem being the capital. So, we support that firmly and completely,” the President said.
He confirmed that South Africa had informed the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General of its intention to withdraw troops from the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) to consolidate and rebuild the country’s defence force for future peacekeeping missions. – SAnews.gov.za
