Allegations of racism and hate speech flew thick and fast on Tuesday when the National Assembly debated the multimillion-rand private residence being built by President Thabo Mbeki and his wife, Zanele.
The debate followed a statement by Minister of Public Works Thoko Didiza, who told MPs that state spending on security for the R8-million Johannesburg house is in line with guidelines laid down for current and former members of the executive.
She did not, however, say what this spending is.
She condemned a visit to the site by Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip Douglas Gibson — who she claimed actually entered the house — and a contingent of journalists.
She said the ”undercurrents” and views and feelings that had emerged in the wake of the DA’s questioning of state spending on the project made people wonder how far South Africa had gone along the road of reconciliation.
”Has this question been asked because it happened to be an African president?” she asked.
”We, as members of this house [National Assembly], owe Mr Mbeki and Mrs Mbeki an apology for the way in which one of us has acted in this matter …
”If we are going to stoop that low as MPs, I wonder what our people think of us.”
The African National Congress’s leading speaker in the debate, Fezile Bhengu, said it was ”immoral, perverse, unethical and un-African” to invade the privacy of another person, regardless of whether that person is a public figure or not.
He asked whether the DA’s action was ”camouflaged racism that suggests blacks in general are congenitally deficient and corrupt, and that all African leaders are not credit-worthy”.
”This is over the top,” protested DA whip Mike Ellis in an unsuccessful bid to have Deputy Speaker Gwen Mahlangu uphold a point of order.
”This is hate speech, this is racism, everything all at once.”
Mahlangu ruled, however, that Bhengu had made no reference to Gibson himself, and allowed him to continue.
Gibson said all that taxpayers want to know — and Didiza had failed to say — is how much of their money is being spent on the house.
The ANC could have ”saved itself a lot of hysteria” had she opened her mouth much earlier, after the investigative magazine Noseweek published an initial report that the house is costing R22-million.
He denied that he entered the house when he visited it. It was the media who had climbed over the fence and chartered an aircraft to take photographs.
”In a free democracy that’s how the media carry on,” he said.
The DA also came under fire from most of the other parties in the National Assembly, some echoing Didiza’s call for an apology, and others — including Avril Harding of the Independent Democrats — accusing the party of ”naked racism”.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said Gibson’s ”crass self-promotion” had compromised the security of the residence.
At one point during the rowdy debate, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel challenged Ellis to take a breathalyser test.
Ellis accepted the challenge, urging Manuel to come with him. The two men both left their seats, and were about to leave the chamber when Mahlangu ordered Manuel to sit down. — Sapa