The DA, in the course of this week, understood tactically, if perhaps not emotionally, and recognised the complexities of this particular Brett Murray case, and chose to say very little indeed - wisely so - on this matter. But the hon Lekota barged in, bombastically treading on all of his hurts. I was watching very carefully as you were speaking, hon Lekota. I watched the behaviour of the DA members in the House. I do not generalise, but quite a few of the white DA members were hyperexcited by what you were saying. You were expressing what their prejudices were and which they did not dare utter. [Interjections.] To your credit, the Leader of the Opposition was much more restrained; I am not playing it ... [Interjections.] I am making a point - I watched very carefully. But the hon Mazibuko and other black members, and some white members, were more restrained. I think we need to understand that none of us must play fast and loose with this issue.
On Sunday, the person that the Rules of Parliament curiously describe as the Leader of the Opposition, the hon Lindiwe Mazibuko, had a very interesting article in the Sunday Times. It was a plea to all of us in Parliament, as the title said "To rise above our rivalries for the good of South Africa". Now, that is a very noble sentiment whereas, as you can see, a call on Sunday does not translate into a speech on Wednesday. [Interjections.] The article correctly singled out the grave crisis of unemployment within our country, and particularly youth unemployment within our country, and said that we should focus all of our attentions on this issue. The article was more silent on some of the other grave crises, which are linked to youth unemployment, like racialised unemployment, inequality and racialised property, but let us leave that to one side.
Now, let me read the article, which goes on to say the following:
Rather than asking if an economic proposal conforms to the principles of Keynes or Mills or Hayek, I ...
That is, the hon Mazibuko.
... would like to see an above - partisan approach that works.
Now, in pretending to be above ideology, notice how ideologically limited she is; her iconic reference points Keynes, Mills, or Hayek. Is that all? How Eurocentric she is. Has nothing happened in the last 60 years in China or Brazil or in Africa, for that matter?
That was on Sunday, but today is Wednesday and the hon Mazibuko fails to follow her own advice. Today, on Wednesday, she tries to label the National Development Plan, Minister Manuel, as Hayekian, as near liberal, and tries to label the New Growth Path as Keynesian. She then asks the President whether government's policies are near liberal or welfarist. Confusion, confusion, confusion! [Interjections.]
I thought that the hon Koos van der Merwe was completely out of order when he interjected during the course of your speech. I agree with the hon Kalyan that his interjection had strong undertones if not overtones of sexism. I completely agree.
We all know that the hon Koos van der Merwe has little hair and he has very little good sense, but at least we know that his hair is his own and his nonsense is his own. [Laughter.] But can we say the same for your contradictory ideas in your Sunday article on the one hand, and your Wednesday speech on the other? Are there different drafting teams in the DA? Is there factionalism in the DA or is it just ideological confusion? I think it is the latter. [Interjections.]