MICHAEL HAMLYN | CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille came under heavy fire on Wednesday for what she had to say about the state's support for President Jacob Zuma's wives and children.
"Those who have been making a lot of noise about the cost to the state of the president's family are guilty of cultural chauvinism," the office of the chief whip of the ANC in Parliament said in a statement. "They find themselves at odds with the South African Constitution, which guarantees the right of all South Africans to express their beliefs, practise their culture and speak their language. The state has no business discriminating against anyone, including the president, for doing so.
"It seems Zille would want her cultural norms and practices to be imposed on all South Africans".
Zille's criticism of the "size of the president's family" and that it costs the state "exorbitantly" is distasteful the chief whip's office said, and demonstrates cultural intolerance of the worst type. "A large family, according to Zille, makes corruption almost inevitable.
"This kind of condescending attitude has no place in a democratic South Africa," the statement said.
Regrettable
The whip's office feels that, based on these comments, the DA submitted a question to the Presidency about the costs of the spouses' office, not for the purpose of exercising oversight, but to mock and belittle the culture of the president. It is regrettable, the statement said.
It added that the R15-million that the Presidency has budgeted is consistent with what was allocated to the spouses and children of former heads of state.
"It would be incorrect to expect the Presidency to allocate benefits only to one spouse or to only certain dependent children," the ANC pointed out. "All spouses and children of the president enjoy equal status in terms of the law and Constitution and are therefore entitled to equal benefits".
The Mail & Guardian
