Hon Deputy Speaker, Mr President, Mr Deputy President, hon members and colleagues, one of the curiosities of the Rules of Parliament is that they describe the parliamentary leader of the second largest party in Parliament as the Leader of the Opposition. I wonder if the hon Buthelezi or the hon Holomisa or the hon Mulder brothers or the hon Themba Godi or the hon Mphahlele recognise the hon Lindiwe Mazibuko as their leader, or see themselves as part of the opposition, some singular oppositional bloc. [Interjections.] It's for them to answer that question, but I want to ask the hon walking wounded and now departed Lekota something. He has squarely located himself as the underbelly, the libidinal voice of the DA, saying what many of the DA's own members actually think, but are too embarrassed to say out loud and in public. The hon Lekota's performance was frankly disgraceful.
The Brett Murray episode is perhaps not even fundamentally about constitutional rights. The right to the freedom of expression is very precious; the freedom of media. Some of us actually went to jail for fighting for the freedom of media. It's absolutely crucial, but so too is the right to human dignity, the right to dignity, not just for the President and the President's Office, but for all South Africans. This episode is not fundamentally a legal matter; it is not fundamentally a constitutional matter, it is about our collective responsibilities that we all have as South Africans to our country and its people, a country that is not yet Jerusalem, and is not even Canada.
Rights are also about responsibilities. In a calm discussion that we had with the editor of the City Pres, and a calm discussion that the Minister of Arts and Culture has had with the director of the Goodman Gallery, to their great credit, those two individuals recognised the importance of us all assuming responsibilities, upholding the rights of the Constitution, but understanding our location in South Africa. [Applause.]
I listened very carefully to what I thought were the wise words, for a change, of the Hon Mulder. I agree with him that we must not play the race card loosely and freely. I agree with him that we must not generalise about whites or blacks in South Africa. I am also encouraged to hear that, according to his calculation, some 80% of Afrikaans speakers, in a phone-in programme on SABC radio, deplored the painting. But what the hon Mulder left out was an important matter. I assume 80% of those that he calculated objected to the portrayal on moral and aesthetic grounds; they found the painting distasteful, as the majority of us do.
We would, however, be making a grave mistake if we thought that for very many, many, many South Africans, black South Africans in particular, the feelings were only moral or just aesthetic. The portrayal provoked something much, much deeper. It caused great emotional hurt and it opened up unhealed wounds. This was so movingly illustrated and demonstrated when advocate Gcina Malindi, who is a hugely gentle and nonracial person, for anyone who knows him, and who does not remotely play the race card broke down in tears in court. We all, especially those of us who happen to be white South Africans, need to hear, see and understand this profound reaction.
The DA, in the course of this week ... [Interjections.]