Premier's Response to Statement by the Presidency

Statement by Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape

This morning’s statement by the Presidency in response to my tweet is a complete over-reaction. I have said absolutely nothing substantive about the content of the President’s announcement today, 7 February.  All I said is that there would be an announcement today – but I did not reveal dates or anything else. 

Indeed I thought my tweet would assist the President’s express declared purpose of making the announcement today – to maximise registrations on the final registration weekend tomorrow and Sunday.

The background is as follows:  The President and the IEC gave us a briefing yesterday on the election dates. The President and the IEC said it was important for him to announce today, before the final registration weekend, to maximise registration. I completely agree with that motivation. I understood that we have to create maximum awareness today to maximise registrations tomorrow.

I was actually helping this purpose – without revealing any of the substantive information that I have, and that understandably is confidential. But merely saying the President will announce, without giving any detail, can hardly be seen as leaking confidential information.

The Presidency should stop concentrating on side issues, and focus on the big issues such as corruption, economic decline, and unemployment.