Thabo Mbeki just loves the South Coast

The President of South Africa loves visiting the South Coast, even when he s got some serious work to do.
HANNES VAN SCHALKWYK REPORTS.
IF you were somebody important, say, perhaps the President of the Republic of South Africa, the last thing you'd want to do after two days of rigorous meet¬ings is to be questioned by a couple of news hungry, dispassionate journalists.
Especially not when all those meet¬ings were held on the sunny South Coast of Kwazulu- Natal and you didn't get the chance to take in the views, mingle with locals or play some golf on one of South Africa's most celebrated courses.
During the President's International Investment Council meeting held at the San Lameer Estate last Saturday and Sunday, journalists from as far afield as Johannesburg and Cape Town flocked to San Lameer, to try and obtain the latest scoop ..
After a brief report on the meeting, the president and members of the council were inundated with questions relating to serious political and financial issues.
These ranged from projected busi¬ness scenarios to the recent horrendous xenophobic attacks in Gauteng, and kept the president on his toes for about an hour.
The Herald, in a more light-hearted vein, then asked the president whether he had enjoyed his stay and what he thought about the South Coast, easing the tension at the briefing. He answered with a broad smile, "As you can see, members of the press came down to the South Coast quite willingly. The only problem, however, is that when you come down here for work you don't really have enough time to enjoy it. But maybe one day the South Coast Herald will invite me and I might come and visit."
After this the mood lightened and questions breezed by, until a rather cocky female journalist from a well known independent news broadcaster asked the President what he and Public Enterprises minister, Alec Erwin, "get up to" when the lights go out during load shedding.
After a brief stare-down and the cessation of giggles from fellow news hounds, the president calmly answered, "I go to bed."
She asked with some disbelief, "You go to bed?" He elaborated. "Yes. You can't read, you can't write. You can't even play golf on the carpet. So I go to bed. What do you do?"


Media gathering: President Thabo Mbeki and the Interactional investment Council are quizzed at the media briefing held at the San Lameer Estate last Sunday. P1130578


Quite Smile: President ;Thabo Mbeki answers questions during the in¬temational lnvestment Council media briefing held on the South Coast last Sunda . P1130592