Zille again asks for debate
by
2008-12-03 22:21
Cape Town - Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille has once again challenged ruling party president Jacob Zuma to a public debate.
The ANC leader called himself a "firm democrat", yet time and time again he had declined to join her and other politicians on a public platform to debate issues of national importance, she said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Zuma has ducked the opportunity to debate me on at least five occasions this year," she said.
Zille was responding to a remark made by Zuma during an interview with Business Day after his party's manifesto conference at the weekend.
He reportedly told the newspaper: "I am a firm democrat. There can be no issue that cannot and should not be debated."
Zille said Zuma needed to be true to his word and debate her in public.
"A real test of robust democratic discourse is... whether the ruling party is able and willing publicly to debate the opposition, so that voters can hear opposing views, weigh up the respective merits of those views, and draw their own conclusions," she said.