Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - February 11, 2005
Speaking outside Parliament after the speech, Leon said the 'overall tone' and the focus on building the economy were to be welcomed. But, he said, he suspected government was saying that it was 'business as usual' on such matters as dealing with the HIV/Aids pandemic.
His party -- the Democratic Alliance -- has repeatedly focused on government's apparent unwillingness to rollout anti-retroviral drugs.
Leon said he was concerned that the president had not referred to the worries by the Afrikaans-speaking South African community 'who believe their school system is under threat'.
He said the matter of mother-tongue education at primary and secondary schools 'needs to be urgently addressed'.
Leon said the question of Zimbabwe had hardly been referred to and he did not think a free and fair election was going to happen unless South Africa was going to hold the Zimbabwe government 'to account' on this matter.
"One final issue deserves mention. The effusive welcome given by President Mbeki to ÇÿPresident' Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti was not only a violation of protocol -- since he is no longer the President of anything -- but also highly inappropriate to a celebration of democracy.
"Aristide is a certified human rights abuser who deserves no pre-eminence in a democratic Parliament alongside President Nelson Mandela," said Leon.
United Democratic Movement leader General Bantu Holomisa said he lauded the mention by Mbeki of his concern that certain of the government's programmes were being poorly implemented.
Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille said Mbeki had been 'quite straight on the failures and successes'.
Not enough had been said on Zimbabwe and she believed South Africa could 'do more'.
Zimbabwe is holding parliamentary elections on March 31.
Freedom Front leader Dr Pieter Mulder said more should have been said about Zimbabwe which he said was 'heading for a crisis ... it is a crisis on our hands in a few months'.
African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe said South Africa is facing "serious and life-threatening" challenges, which require urgent attention.
'What was most disappointing is his reflection on HIV/Aids, which is currently gripping South Africa. Aids was mentioned only in one sentence of his 20-page speech.
'This indicates how low the issue of HIV/Aids is on government's agenda,' Meshoe said.
He said he believed that Aids should be at the top of the government's priority list.
Turning to Zimbabwe, Meshoe said everybody knew that quiet diplomacy was not working. 'Government should learn from Cosatu [the Congress of SA Trade Unions], which was doing more to challenge Zimbabwe because of that country's poor human rights record and poor treatment of opposition parties,' he said.
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