Bouquet for 'bull terrier' Leon
2007-02-15 21:39
Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki paid tribute to outgoing Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon on Thursday, saying his "lively engagement" would be missed in the national assembly.
"From where I sit, I would never have the courage to argue that he served merely as a chihuahua, because, indeed, he has the bark of a bull terrier," he said in response to debate on last week's State of the Nation address.
"I am certain that all of us will miss his lively engagement as a party leader in the public debate that must and will continue, whatever our views about the rights and wrongs of the arguments he advanced, and the manner in which he advanced those arguments.
Wishes him well
"I wish the DA success as it engages the process to elect a successor, whom I am certain, will be no less a defender of the mandate of the DA and its supporters than is the Honourable Tony Leon.
"I am certain that in whatever else he does, having voluntarily surrendered the leadership of the DA, he will succeed.
"Should he need a helping hand, which I doubt, we are nevertheless ready to lend that hand. Tony, best wishes," said Mbeki.
Leon is set to step down as DA leader in May.
- SAPA