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WEF bars media after 'false reports'

Dar es Salaam - The media is being refused access to 18 of the 45 sessions and workshops at the 20th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa this year, after “faulty reporting” of a speech by Trevor Manuel - who heads South Africa’s National Planning Commission - at the 2009 meeting in Cape Town.

The WEF is being held in East Africa for the first time this year, after being hosted in Cape Town a number of times. According to the programme, all brainstorming and workshop sessions as well as all lunches, dinners and cocktail parties are off-limits to journalists, who are barred from attending these functions.

This morning, The Guardian in Tanzania quoted WEF director Katherine Tweedie as saying that these restrictions were to ensure free speech among delegates, without fear of being “misrepresented” by the media.

Tweedie then referred to a discussion about the future of South Africa in Cape Town last year, where Manuel gave a speech about “businesses must do X, Y and Z”. She said the media used only this sentence and quoted it out of context.

Manuel was in the headlines last year after speaking out against the private sector and calling business leaders “cowards”, because they couldn’t stand up against the trade unions.

According to Tweedie, the speakers at this session were "honest about the relationship between the government and the business sector and the future of South Africa".

She said: “I think there was a gross misrepresentation of a subtle point that had absolutely nothing to do with the discussion that was on the go.”

The functions from which the press has been barred include a work session about higher education on the continent and a discussion about the building of South Africa after the 2010 Fifa World Cup with Manuel, President Jacob Zuma, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel and Business Unity South Africa (Busa) CEO Jerry Vilakazi.

The WEF, which kicks off on Tuesday, will be attended by 11 African heads of state and several ministers. Besides Zuma and Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete, Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Zambia’s President Rupiah Banda and Namibia’s President Hefikepunye Pohamba will be present.

The theme of this year’s WEF on Africa is Rethinking Africa’s Growth Strategy, and the major focus is expected to be on the continent’s economic development.

- Sake24.com

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