The Lion King, dead United States presidents, poets, and struggle stalwarts were all quoted to bring home one point or another during the State of the Nation debate in Parliament.
”Rafiki [the monkey] hits Simba. Simba: ‘What was that for?’ Rafiki: ‘It doesn’t matter, it is in the past!’ Simba: ‘Yeah, but it still hurts.’” That Disney magic moment was used by African National Congress MP Annelize van Wyk to take a dig at those who want to forget South Africa’s apartheid past.
On a mystical note, New National Party MP Boy Geldenhuys thought the current Chinese year of the monkey would be useful to make his point about ex-partners, the Democratic Alliance.
”Each year betrays the same characteristics as its patron animal. Monkey business will therefore be the order of the day. The dictionary defines monkey business as deceitful behaviour.”
When former president Nelson Mandela opened the first democratic Parliament in 1994, he cited Afrikaner poet Ingrid Jonker’s poem The Child Who Was Shot Dead By Soldiers at Nyanga. Over the past five years, in his State of the Nation addresses, President Thabo Mbeki has quoted Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, some local talent and, this week, individual South Africans such as writer Rian Malan.
Others followed suit. Madiba himself is now quoted rather than quoting. Amid the increased range, however, the Freedom Charter and Mbeki’s quotes remained firm favourites.
John F Kennedy’s ”We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom” came in handy for Inkatha Freedom Party deputy public works minister Musa Zondi, describing the 10-year transition. To this he add-libbed his own ”How true!” before insisting national unity was still a long way off.
Renier Schoeman, NNP deputy health minister, used the definition of another US president, Franklin Roosevelt, of the poor: ”The forgotten men (and women) at the bottom of the economic pyramid” was a useful phrase in his speech.
He also explained the party’s cooperation with the ANC in the words of English poet John Donne: ”No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
Fellow NNP deputy minister PW Saaiman quoted ANC stalwart Albert Luthuli in the same vein: ”Man is my brother not by blood but because we cherish the same values …”
African Christian Democratic Party leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, perhaps predictably, turned to the scriptures to urge government to do more about moral regeneration. ”King Solomon once said, and I quote, ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.’”
On the issue of Zimbabwe, struggle stalwart Oliver Tambo’s statement 36 years ago was cited: ”We in the ANC have always believed that the honourable task of freeing South Africa rested firmly with the people of South Africa themselves.”
But Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder resorted to colonialist Cecil John Rhodes (”To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in God’s lottery”) to highlight past and present discrimination against Afrikaners as well as black South Africans.
Some ordinary South Africans were also quoted. ”I’d rather be a first-class citizen in someone else’s country than a second-class citizen in my own country,” were Peter John Shapiro’s reasons for emigrating after failing to find work because of ”unfair application of affirmative action”, according to IFP chief whip Koos van der Merwe.
And an unidentified ”young South African” was cited by Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille to make her election stand: ”If you have 100 small voices, suddenly you have a roar!”