Electioneering sinks to a new low with abuse of our heroes

The Times Editorial: Politicians might believe that anything goes at election time, but some things are best left alone - like invoking a former president's ill-health and religious imagery to win votes.

On Wednesday, ANC Youth League president Julius Malema felt it necessary to use former president Nelson Mandela's fragile health as a vote-winner in Eastern Cape.

"When you put a cross, there are two things you must see. [With] the first line of the cross, you must say 'Happy birthday, Walter Sisulu'; the second cross you must say 'Get well Madiba' because you are doing it for the ANC," Malema said in Port Elizabeth.

"President Mandela is sick and you don't want to contribute to a worsening condition of Mandela by not voting ANC. President Mandela will never endure if the ANC is out of power."

Malema has made many thoughtless utterances as league president, but this must surely rank as one of his most crass.

The panic that set in a few months ago when Mandela was hospitalised in Johannesburg was testimony to the emotion that the former president elicits in South Africans. For many, he will always be the revered, iconic image of the liberation struggle and the birth of our democracy.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe scoffed at criticism of President Jacob Zuma a few months ago for his use of religious imagery when canvassing for votes, but many people felt that Zuma had displayed great insensitivity.

Then, Zuma said: "When you are carrying an ANC membership card, you are blessed. When you get up there, there are different cards used, but when you have an ANC card, you will be let through to go to Heaven."

The ANC might believe that everything is fair game in the race to win votes for next month's elections. But, to others, they appear to be using a frail man's illness in a desperate attempt to get sympathy votes.