With 2006 hardly upon us, two proven error-prone political writers  are already slagging off the president.

The analysis,  Mbeki must box clever to overcome Zuma- paralysis (January 6) by Karima Brown and Vukani Mde, perpetuates the negative-to-vitriolic commentary dished out since a memorable lapse on August 23 last year. Remember that? The two had the president attending and  taking particular positions, when the African National Congress (ANC) national working committee met, without his being present, on August 22. 

No one is immune from making mistakes, though this was surely chastening. But the two, showing no remorse or reflection, were soon at it again (Rift in Alliance Deepening Fast, ANC, Partners Call Truce after Marathon Talks, August 26), claiming a paralysing leadership deficit.

The real deficit was to be found in the political journalists. There was, also, the generalised hostility of a piece (Symptoms of a deeper ANC rot, November 25), with the two seeing the  ANC as suffering from a systematic malaise which was structural, moral, political, strategic and historical.

The piece failed to distinguish between the need for scrupulous presidential respect for due process of law (over a rape allegation still to come to court), and the justified use of the executive prerogative regarding cabinet appointments, after an initial court case involving corruption.

The January 6 article simply repeats the reference to government paralysis, with not a shred of proof.

There is in fact no paralysis in government. The president has insisted on upholding the rule of law and that service delivery must be at the top of  government's agenda. Yet the article disparagingly speaks of an almost impossible task facing the president and is bearish about success in 2006.

This contrasts with the considered optimism of almost all sectors of our society.

The president has repeatedly insisted that the fight against poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment, and the fight for a prosperous SA, have to begin with improving both our economic performance and our service delivery. To achieve these ends it requires government to be bold and to raise difficult issues for public debate.

This is the responsible thing for a democratic government to do. This is fundamentally about transparency and accountability. Thus, to depict the issue as part of a personalised quest for an iron grip on power, incidentally by a democratic president such as ours, is fanciful.

Summarily to allege a top-down approach by the presidency is a fabrication. Far from exercising an iron grip, or taking a top- down approach, Mbeki  is the epitome of a consensual leader. In the cabinet and in the national executive committee of the ANC, the president allows for all voices to be heard and decisions are arrived at by consensus not by voting. Not to mention the imbizo process.

The article speaks of a political quagmire and the bloodiest fight facing the ANC, over provincial reorganisation. It gratuitously throws in the claim that the party is seemingly all but lost to Mbeki. Under his leadership, the ANC increased its share of the popular vote in both the 1999 and the 2004 elections. Currently, the ANC holds 73,25% of Parliament's seats.

One hopes that 2006 will see less knee-jerk assertion and more high-quality and well-sourced commentary in the media generally. Responsible world media are focusing increasingly on the use and abuse of sources. For instance,  the Global Journalist (Vol 11, No 3) asks:  Reporter's Privilege? When the source goes unnamed, who, if anyone, should take the blame?

Essop Pahad
Minister in The Presidency