War of words between South African political rivals escalates

Politics can get quite nasty in South Africa, as racial tension is often just under the surface and political correctness is still a foreign concept.

So it was no surprise that during the recent election campaign Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille and Julius Malema, the head of the African National Congress Youth League, called each other names, with Zille describing Malema as an uncircumcised boy and Malema calling Zille a racist, colonialist and imperialist.

What was not expected was that the war of words would not only continue but reach new heights after the April 22 elections, which the ANC won convincingly, but which also saw Zille’s DA win the province surrounding Cape Town.

As the new premier of the Western Cape province, Zille formed an all-male cabinet and was swiftly criticized for the absence of women in top positions. Zille attempted to deflect criticism by saying this week that ANC leader and new South African President Jacob “Zuma is a self-confessed womanizer with deeply sexist views, who put all his wives at risk by having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman.”

(Zille’s comment refers to Zuma’s acknowledgment during his 2006 rape trial that he had had sexual intercourse with a woman he knew to be HIV-positive. Zuma is South Africa’s first openly polygamist president, with three wives.)

Then all hell broke loose.

The ANC Youth League, which often acts as the ruling party’s attack dog, issued a vintage statement about Zille’s comment. Here are a couple of gems:

“Zille has appointed an all-male cabinet of useless people, majority of whom are her boyfriends and concubines so that she can continue to sleep around with them …”

“The fake racist girl who was dropped on a head as child should understand that South Africa will never be a Mickey-mouse Republic like she wants to portray it.”

The statement also refers to Zille as a “a fake racist apartheid agent,” an interesting label for someone who, as a journalist, investigated the death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in the 1970s.

The ANC Youth League’s statement was so over the top that even the ANC criticized it, saying the “comments are deeply embarrassing to the ANC, and reflect a marked departure from the ANC’s approach to political engagement.”

The youth league said it would meet with the ANC to discuss the situation but maintained its position and reiterated that Zille’s “behaviour and sentiments are symptomatic of someone who was dropped on her head when she was a child.”

Zille has tried to stay outside of the controversy, declaring simply that her comment was taken out of context by the Sowetan newspaper that published it.
 

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/south-africa/090515/war-words-between-south-african-political-rivals-escalates