Mbeki tries to mend fences with the press

President Thabo Mbeki, several ministers and about 60 journalists ended an extraordinary meeting on Saturday aimed at mending the troubled relationship between his government and the press, AFP reported on Monday. Quoting an SABC report, the agency said Mbeki closed the two-day meeting in Pilanesberg, northwest of Johannesburg, with an admission that the government was partly to blame for the difficulties. “As government we have not done what we ought to have done - and that is to communicate clearly. The message came across very strongly that this has been a very serious failure and I think we need to correct that,” he was quoted saying.

Former president Nelson Mandela enjoyed an adoring press, but Mbeki’s relationship with the media has soured steadily since he took over the job two years ago, the report said. It hit a low in April when the independent Mail & Guardian ran a headline asking: “Is this man fit to rule?” The president has repeatedly complained that the criticism he has suffered for his handling of the crisis in Zimbabwe and the HIV/AIDS pandemic was the result of bad reporting. He did so again earlier this week in the United States when he tried to explain away the controversy that arose last year when he questioned the link between HIV and AIDS by saying he had been misquoted.