Silence from Presidency reflects contempt for citizens – IRR
24 April 2021
Despite promising a reply within 14 days, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office has contemptuously disregarded a memorandum delivered by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) on 3 March calling the government to account for the widespread and continuing abuses which afflict citizens daily, undermining their prospects of living better lives and robbing them of hope for the future.
As the country prepares to celebrate Freedom Day, commemorating South Africa’s first post-apartheid elections on 27 April 1994, it is plain that the long record of citizen abuse in the intervening years reflects poorly on the government’s record of honouring the constitutional promises it made to the people who put it in power.
The Presidency’s silence on the IRR’s memorandum nearly two months after it was officially received – with a stamp and a signature – is symptomatic of the government’s contemptuous disregard for the plight of its citizens.
In our memorandum, we explained what we meant by citizen abuse, and what the government should do about it.