Caution should be sounded before the public jump to premature conclusions concerning the presidency and Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva.

Caution should be sounded before the public jump to premature conclusions concerning the presidency and Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva.

The dispute concerning the former head of the Office of the Rights of Children is now subject to an appeal launched by the presidency in the labour court.

Despite this fact, certain newspapers - it would seem fed enthusiastically by Mkhwanazi-Xaluva with her own creative view of events and subjective interpretation of formal documents - are publishing sensational reports without the benefit of awaiting the decision in the appeal.

For instance, a Sunday newspaper interpreted an affidavit submitted to the labour court in the appeal as a call to brand her "enemy of the state" which would debar her from state employ.

Sowetan carried similar charges, made by her last Wednesday.

This is a gross distortion of the meaning of words in the affidavit, which spoke about a breakdown in trust. Of course, no one has the right to bar anyone from a job in government. We all have rights, and there is due process for all.

It would be a matter of concern if what is so obviously a personal campaign in support of one side in proceedings which are still subject to appeal should be accepted at face value, without the benefit of insights that will be available when the matter has come to finality.

In this spirit, the presidency urges all concerned to await the outcome, and not to prejudge it, nor to indulge in commentaries outside the process which could merely have the effect of smearing people or anticipating or interfering with due process.

Frank Chikane

director-general, The Presidency