Speaker and hon members, John Milton in his poem entitled ``On his Blindness'' meditates on his own tragic loss of sight. It is not his inability to see that he bemoans but, more substantially, he bemoans his loss of relevance. He aptly captures it when he says in the opening line of the sonnet, ``when I consider how my light is spent''.
To the DA who put this motion of no confidence in the President before us, your light is spent. [Interjections.] Right now, the ratings on Twitter indicate, hon Maimane, that you are a desperate man trying to prop up a desperate party ... [Applause.] ... that you are clutching for relevance. Milton speaks of his inability to see with the inner eye and his lack of ability to reason. In the case of the DA, it would be the refusal to see. In plain English, it is called an ingrained prejudice.
It is well known that the DA has an axe to grind with President Zuma, has had it for a long time - long before he became President. The DA has made it its business to attack and hurl insults at the President. What clearly informs the psyche of the DA is nothing more than a deep-rooted hatred of the person of the President, which he himself has called ``playing the man, not the ball''. ``Play the ball, not the man.'' [Interjections.] Hon Maimane comes here and pretends that the DA has always honoured our poor President Mandela. It was the same kind of treatment that he got, which you are giving now to President Zuma, which is why he called you a Mickey Mouse party. I wonder why. You are still a Mickey Mouse party even now. [Interjections.] I don't mind. If Goofy represents Madiba, I don't mind. You are still Mickey Mouse. [Interjections.]
What is also instructive is how you use selective examples about what it is that you want to put on the table. In the Western Cape, for the rest of 2014, this province lost 64 000 jobs whilst other provinces were growing. [Interjections.] Why do you forget that? Why do you forget that? [Interjections.] Here we are, 10 months after our voters returned the ANC and its President to power with a 62% landslide victory, debating something that the voters had so eloquently concluded on, but we do so as an affirmation of the Constitution that the ANC bequeathed to all of you, a Constitution that is both tolerant and accommodating even to the most misguided and insecure, such as you.
Hon Maimane, out there on Twitter, everybody is telling the story that you are being propped up by your Chief Whip behind there.