The DA has described as awful ANC Youth League president Julius Malema’s monkey jibe, which appeared to have been aimed at its leader Helen Zille.
Addressing an ANC manifesto rally in Westernburg township, west of Polokwane, on Saturday, Malema appeared to liken Zille to a monkey.
Without mentioning Zille by name, Malema accused the DA of addressing people in African languages only before elections.
“Have you ever seen an ugly woman in a blue dress, dancing like a monkey because she is looking for election votes,” said Malema.
He went on to heap praises on beautiful women found in the ANC.
“We have got beautiful women in the ANC like Angie Motshekga, the president of the (ANC) Woman’s league, very beautiful women,” Malema said.
Zille threw in some isiXhosa words and phrases last month when she delivered her party manifesto in Soweto.
At the weekend, Malema said the DA had divided South Africans, while the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) warned that Malema’s comment could “compromise the whole system”.
“They say we look down upon coloureds, (now) we ask the question: Who has built open toilets for coloureds? Who has built open toilets for Africans? It is not the ANC, it is the DA in Western Cape,” he said.
The DA leader in Limpopo, Desiree van der Walt, said: “It is low and immature politics, and I think you can expect that from an individual like Mr Malema.”
Van der Walt said South Africa belonged to all who lived in it.
She added that while it was up to Zille to take the matter up with the relevant institutions, she personally would have taken it up if it had involved DA members in Limpopo.
“I am very disappointed,” said Van der Walt.
The rally Malema addressed was held in a township previously reserved for coloureds, a conscious attempt by the ruling party to calm tensions sparked by government spokesman Jimmy Manyi’s comments about coloureds.
Manyi’s comments that coloureds had to spread themselves across the country caused a national outcry, sparking criticism from Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel and Cosatu. Manyi made the remarks in an interview broadcast on KykNet in March 2010, while he was still director-general of labour.
At the rally, Freddy Greaver, the mayor of Polokwane and chairman of the local ANC branch, said: “We, as the people of Westernburg, are all united, we don’t see ourselves as coloureds, we don’t talk about Indians or Africans, we talk about the African National Congress.”
He said the ANC had always enjoyed overwhelming support in Westernburg.
Malema had a word of caution for the youth: “You, the youth of Westernburg, you must be revolutionary, you must not be swallowed by bottlestores, you must not be swallowed by drugs, you must not be swallowed by dagga.”
He praised Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as a revolutionary worth emulating
IEC provincial electoral officer Nkaro Mateta urged political parties to be tolerant of other parties. “I think that kind of comment really is meant to scare other political parties. It goes against the electoral code of conduct.” - The Star