PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has pulled out of a memorial service for Nelson Mandela at London’s Westminster Abbey despite the royal event having previously been postponed to accommodate his diary.
"It’s disappointing that the president cannot attend, but we are not in the business of recrimination," said Duncan Jeffery, the head of communications at the 1,000-year old abbey where British queens and kings are crowned and buried.
There was no immediate explanation about what was preventing the president from going to London for the show of respect for Mandela, who died in December.
A Cabinet statement issued last Friday had announced that Mr Zuma would pay a working visit to the UK from March 2-4 and would attend the service on March 3.
Officials said Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe would now lead a government delegation that was expected to include at least two Cabinet members — International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Performance Monitoring Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane.
What is called the "national service of thanksgiving to celebrate the life and work of former president Nelson Mandela" was originally due to take place at Westminster Abbey on February 11.
"That original date clashed with Sona (the state of the nation address), which is a national event," Mr Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said on Wednesday. "So the date of the service was changed to March 3, but not just to accommodate the president ."
Asked why Mr Zuma was also unable to make the second date, Mr Maharaj replied: "His diary is always subject to change. This is a very, very busy period."
Campaigning for the national election on May 7 is hotting up.
African National Congress (ANC) leaders have a programme of visits to foreign capitals to campaign for votes from South Africans abroad. The South African community in the UK officially stands at about 140,000 but is actually four times that, at nearly 600,000, including dual nationals, according the Diaspora Studies group at London University’s King’s College.
Only a minority is registered to vote in South Africa’s election and the community is overwhelmingly made up of Democratic Alliance supporters, political analysts believe.
Opposition parties last month criticised Mr Zuma after he failed to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos because of "work pressure at home".
The president had also cancelled campaign engagements the ANC had set down for him. The party is sending a strong delegation of its own to Monday’s service in London.
Britain’s Prince Harry and Prime Minister David Cameron will be among the expected 1,800 people attending, Mr Jeffery said.
The abbey’s website confirms the change of date from February 11 to March 2. "The service has been re-arranged to widen further the spread of those able to attend, including representation from South Africa," it said.
Mr Jeffery said replacing Mr Zuma with Mr Motlanthe had not caused any logistical problems. "It just means that where the president was supposed to be sitting, the deputy president will sit. There were no financial implications the change of date caused ."
• This article was amended on February 27 2014 to indicate that presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj did not say that the president had also cancelled campaign engagements the ANC had set down for him.
Former president Nelson Mandela. Picture: SUNDAY TIMES
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has pulled out of a memorial service for Nelson Mandela at London’s Westminster Abbey despite the royal event having previously been postponed to accommodate his diary.
"It’s disappointing that the president cannot attend, but we are not in the business of recrimination," said Duncan Jeffery, the head of communications at the 1,000-year old abbey where British queens and kings are crowned and buried.
There was no immediate explanation about what was preventing the president from going to London for the show of respect for Mandela, who died in December.
A Cabinet statement issued last Friday had announced that Mr Zuma would pay a working visit to the UK from March 2-4 and would attend the service on March 3.
Officials said Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe would now lead a government delegation that was expected to include at least two Cabinet members — International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Performance Monitoring Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane.
What is called the "national service of thanksgiving to celebrate the life and work of former president Nelson Mandela" was originally due to take place at Westminster Abbey on February 11.
"That original date clashed with Sona (the state of the nation address), which is a national event," Mr Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said on Wednesday. "So the date of the service was changed to March 3, but not just to accommodate the president ."
Asked why Mr Zuma was also unable to make the second date, Mr Maharaj replied: "His diary is always subject to change. This is a very, very busy period."
Campaigning for the national election on May 7 is hotting up.
African National Congress (ANC) leaders have a programme of visits to foreign capitals to campaign for votes from South Africans abroad. The South African community in the UK officially stands at about 140,000 but is actually four times that, at nearly 600,000, including dual nationals, according the Diaspora Studies group at London University’s King’s College.
Only a minority is registered to vote in South Africa’s election and the community is overwhelmingly made up of Democratic Alliance supporters, political analysts believe.
Opposition parties last month criticised Mr Zuma after he failed to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos because of "work pressure at home".
The president had also cancelled campaign engagements the ANC had set down for him. The party is sending a strong delegation of its own to Monday’s service in London.
Britain’s Prince Harry and Prime Minister David Cameron will be among the expected 1,800 people attending, Mr Jeffery said.
The abbey’s website confirms the change of date from February 11 to March 2. "The service has been re-arranged to widen further the spread of those able to attend, including representation from South Africa," it said.
Mr Jeffery said replacing Mr Zuma with Mr Motlanthe had not caused any logistical problems. "It just means that where the president was supposed to be sitting, the deputy president will sit. There were no financial implications the change of date caused ."
• This article was amended on February 27 2014 to indicate that presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj did not say that the president had also cancelled campaign engagements the ANC had set down for him.
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