Madiba 'not the only nice guy'

Stop projecting Mandela as the "only nice ANC person", President Jacob Zuma told opposition parties yesterday.

Responding to the debate on his budget vote speech in the National Assembly yesterday, Zuma took aim at DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko and COPE leader Mosiuoa Lekota, among others.

"If they supported Madiba, they should support what he stood for and what he went to prison for and what he said over the years.

"You must not just say that Madiba is the only nice ANC man," Zuma said.

On Wednesday, opposition parties said the ANC-led government had deviated from the values that Mandela stood for, such as national reconciliation and non-racialism.

This clearly did not sit well with Zuma, who departed from his prepared speech yesterday to argue that the opposition parties were selective in what they celebrated about Mandela.

Opposition MPs were deliberately creating a superficial image of Madiba, he said.

"They must love Madiba the volunteer-in-chief of the defiance campaign, Madiba the Umkhonto weSizwe commander-in-chief, Madiba the revolutionary, Madiba the long-serving prisoner.

"We must not focus only on Madiba the first president of a democratic South Africa who implemented ANC policies of reconciliation and transformation," Zuma said.

"His rich legacy and history must not be distorted."

Zuma also lashed out at MPs, saying they should stop hurling insults at each other during debates and stop concentrating on the negative when discussing the nation's concerns.

Such conduct among parliamentarians was an embarrassment to the country, he said.

"You reduce this parliament into something about which young people will say: 'But what is happening to this parliament of yours?' Even if we differ, let us differ with respect," said Zuma.

His comments were followed by a statement from the ANC defending one of its MPs, Buti Manamela, for having made fun of Mazibuko's style of dress.

ANC caucus spokesman Moloto Mothapo said that another ANC MP, John Jeffery, who had mocked Mazibuko about her weight, had agreed to withdraw his remarks.

Mothapo said Jeffery's comment about Mazibuko had referred to the "influence and power associated with the position she holds [rather] than her physical weight".