By Quinton Mtyala
Decrying the public discourse as abysmal and putrid, Nobel Peace laureate and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu lashed out at some within the ANC.
"It's nostril-pinching stuff," said Tutu of recent ANC attacks on former cabinet minister Kader Asmal and DA leader Helen Zille, among a number of others.
Speaking at Cape Times/Safmarine Business Breakfast hosted at the Mount Nelson Hotel yesterday(thu) Tutu said some within the ANC were using tactics refined by the old Nationalists - shouting down dissenting voices and using personal attacks on critics: "We are seeing a verbal bludgeoning which creates an environment for violence and brutality."
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This after the firestorm of criticism leveled at former Asmal in which the uMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKVA) said "he should go to the nearest cemetery and die" while deputy police minister Fikile Mbalula described him as a "raving lunatic".
They were responding to Asmal's criticism of plans re-introduce a militarized ranking structure within the police which the former education minister described as evidence of "low-level political thinking".
Tutu said he was appalled at the abysmal quality of recent public discourse, especially in light of the personal attacks on Asmal and Zille's choice of her all-male mostly white cabinet. The ANC Youth League described the cabinet members as her "concubines".
This breaking news flash was supplied exclusively to iol.co.za by the news desk at our sister title, the Cape Times.
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