ANC 'astounded' by Zille attack

2009-05-12 13:25

Cape Town - The ANC said on Tuesday it was "astounded" at DA leader and Western Cape premier Helen Zille's remark that President Jacob Zuma has put his three wives at risk of contracting Aids.

The ANC was astounded by the extraordinary attack by DA leader Helen Zille on the person of President Jacob Zuma, it was reported in Tuesday's Sowetan.

"Even by Zille's standards of personal invective, this latest attack is an unprecedented example of Zuma-hate. Zille's outburst is deeply offensive and should be roundly condemned," ANC spokesperson Jessie Duarte said.

Duarte called on the rest of the DA to distance itself from Zille's views.

The Sowetan on Tuesday quoted Zille as saying: "Zuma is a self-confessed womaniser with deeply sexist views, who put all his wives at risk by having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman." The remarks reportedly came in response to criticism from Cosatu Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich that she is the only woman in her executive council in the Western Cape.

Ehrenreich said Zille had appointed "severely challenged MECs, who are not the sharpest knives in the drawer", and threatened to call a strike to force the DA "to promote equality".

The composition of the executive council has been widely lamented, including by Zuma's new minister of women, youth, children and people with disabilities, Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya.

Shortly after being sworn in on Monday, she described Zille's all-male team of MECs as "a serious concern for all of us" and "not a pretty picture".

Referring to Zuma's personal conduct, Zille, who fears that the national ANC government intends meddling in her province, retorted that the ANC's "professions of support for women's rights ring hollow indeed against this background".

Duarte said instead of answering her critics, Zille has chosen to "insult and demonise" Zuma.

Zuma conceded during his rape trial in 2006 he had had unprotected sex with his accuser, an HIV positive family friend, but had showered afterwards to prevent infection.

- SAPA