1 Quote “We’ve been standing here for 26 seconds and nobody has been raped.” Context Said on 2 February 2000 by the late minister of safety and security, Steve Tshwete, and former minister of justice and constitutional development, Penuell Maduna. The two were speaking on the American television program ’60 minutes’, during a CBS broadcast, and commenting on the statistic that one person is raped in South Africa every 26 seconds, something they clearly thought they had disproved using their own special kind of logic. 2 Quote “[The ANC is] more important” than the Constitution. “No political force can destroy the ANC – it is only the ANC that can destroy itself… “[the Constitution is only there] to regulate matters.” Context Said by then-ANC national chairperson Jacob Zuma, during an address to ANC delegates at a regional meeting in Durban, on 17 November 1996. Zuma was explaining the ANC’s decision to remove Patrick Lekota as Free State premier (Lekota had exercised his constitutional right to fire an MEC without consulting the ANC NEC. In response the ANC NEC had removed from office and Zuma was deployed to reinforce the principle that party members were accountable first and foremost to the ANC.) 3 Quote “I think it’s very important for coloured people in this country to understand that South Africa belongs to them in totality, not just the Western Cape. So this over-concentration of coloureds in the Western Cape is not working for them. They should spread in the rest of the country … so they must stop this over-concentration situation because they are in over-supply where they are so you must look into the country and see where you can meet the supply.” Context Jimmy Manyi made the comments on KykNet's Robinson Regstreeks show in March 2010 when he was still director-general of the Labour Department. The remarks came days after the union Solidarity was criticised for pointing out that about 1million coloured people stood to lose their jobs if amendments to the Employment Equity Act (EEA) became law. 4 Quote “I, for my part, will not keep quiet while others whose minds have been corrupted by the disease of racism, accuse us, the black people of South Africa, Africa and the world, as being, by virtue of our Africanness and skin colour – lazy, liars, foul-smelling, diseased, corrupt, violent, amoral, sexually depraved, animalistic, savage – and rapists.” Context This statement was made by then-president Thabo Mbeki as part of along diatribe along similar lines, in response to a simple parliamentary question, asking whether or not he stood by his claim that HIV did not cause Aids. The next day, on 22 October 2004, Mbeki published the full response as an edition of ANC Today. 5 Quote “Same sex marriage is a disgrace to the nation and to God. When I was growing up, ‘ungqingili’ [homosexuals in isiZulu] could not stand in front of me, I would knock him out.” Context Said by Jacob Zuma to thousands of supporters at Heritage Day celebrations in KwaZulu-Natal, on 26 September 2006. Zuma offered an apology, after the comment caused a national outcry, arguing that he “did not intend to have this interpreted as a condemnation of gays and lesbians”. The quote was criticized by many for the particular brand of social conservatism it represented. 6 Quote “I did not join the struggle to be poor.” Context Said by ANC national spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama in November 2004, in defence of his involvement in a BEE deal involving the sale of a R6.6 billion stake in Telkom to a consortium led by former director-general of communications Andile Ngcaba. Ngonyama alone stood to make up to R160 million. Around this period there were a range of BEE deals, each of enormous value, which time and time again, would be awarded to companies loaded with the same broad group of ANC leadership figures. 7 Quote "We South Africans are also crazy about football, so the World Cup can be nothing but successful. The Germans shouldn't worry about coming here. Our media, which is very open and report on really everything, tend to exaggerate the crime issue. In other countries, newspapers and broadcast stations are patriotic and are far less interested in things that could damage their countries' reputations in the world. This is why one gets the impression that we have much more crime than other countries." Context Zuma was interviewed by the German newspaper Der Spiegel and responded to the question: "South Africa will host the football World Cup in three and a half years, but your country's high crime rate has many worried. Will fans from abroad be able to travel to South Africa without having to fear for their safety?"
