President Thabo Mbeki has changed his mind about Tony Leon, Parliament heard on Thursday. It was a rare moment in their decade-long battle in the National Assembly.
”I had originally thought Tony Leon was a racist to the bone; I would later discover that he is a democrat to the bone,” Mbeki told members.
He was answering ANC MP Fatima Chohan-Kota, who had asked him why he thought opposition members might consider crossing to the ANC.
Mbeki said the best he could do was to explain why he had joined the ANC himself.
”You were born into it,” Leon had suggested.
”No, I joined the ANC Youth League when I was 13 years old, when I was 13 days old I had no possibility to join,” Mbeki replied.
He went on to say floor-crossing legislation might have been necessary when it was introduced because South Africans were still getting to know each other and learning that stereotypes — a communist, terrorist ANC, and a racist DA — were wrong. In those circumstances, ”a certain dynamism”, had been necessary.
”There may be people in the DA today who were fearful of this terrible ANC, and now see that it was based on propaganda. There may be members of the ANC who see South Africa isn’t as bad as we thought it was.”
The remarks came after opposition MPs had proposed that Parliament revisit the controversial legislation.
Mbeki insisted it would be wrong, after the Constitutional Court decision upholding floor-crossing, to suggest that it was unconstitutional or undermined democracy.
But the president insisted parliamentary parties should revisit it rather than asking the executive for proposals.
”Parliament has an annual review of the Constitution, so they may want to take that opportunity,” he said.