South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has reviewed a report of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) presented to him two weeks ago which had since been leaked to public, the presidency revealed on Monday.
The PEAC was established to provide the president with a range of expertise on the country’s economic policies, and “the leakage of the report was a disservice to the nation,” the high office said.
In a statement, the presidency said “all reports by the PEAC remained confidential unless the presidency decided to release the report for broader circulation.”
“The effect of the leak has been to allow for selective quotation from the document — often out of context — to support various agendas,” the presidency said.
It added: “Members of the council have a range of diverse views presented to the president in various reports and meetings, and the president highly values these insights that the members of the advisory council provided him.”
Investigations are underway to find out who leaked the report to the media on 13 January.
NM/jn/APA