The African National Congress (ANC) has noted the so-called Cabinet scorecard published by the Democratic Alliance (DA) which reflects lack of political depth within the ranks of the official opposition.

Not only does the latest move expose the DA to be employing cheap and desparate political tactics, but it demonstrates that they are not in keeping with the sentiments expressed by the South African people and the international community in praising the work of Government, particularly that of our President, Jacob Zuma. It further exposes DA leader Helen Zille and her party as lacking bright ideas to sell their party to the majority of South Africans. If they want us to take them seriously in national politics, they better be original and stop being a copycat of other people's ideas.

The ANC-led Government welcomes criticism from any quarter as long as it is credible, adds value to our service delivery programme and comes from people that enjoy that credibility. Unfortunately the DA does not fit that category as it has not earned the stripes of being a credible political party.

In preparation for the upcoming prestigious FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup, all ANC-governed metro councils had to pull all the stops to ensure that the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system is up and running and is managed efficiently. Under the stewardship of Zille, this project hit serious snags in the Cape Town Metro, with the budget more than doubling than was originally planned. This mess of the BRT alone should earn Zille an absolute zero.

Instead of behaving like a school principal over our Government, Zille should first start with a report card of her own Cabinet in the Western Cape. Out of touch and kilt with the spirit of democracy in South Africa - Zille has come up with a male-dominated provincial Cabinet which defies our efforts to redress gender and race imbalances created by apartheid.

Instead of being a Peeping Tom who concentrates on things that she should not be concentrating on - things far away from her and beyond her understanding - we advise her to start cleaning up the mess in her own backyard to earn the stripes of credibility.

We also - as known to all South Africans - once again, inform Zille and the DA that at no stage did we intimate changing the South African Constitution, despite the continued majority we enjoy in the out Parliament. This is in contrast to what the DA and its fellow travelers intimated during their election campaign of 2009.

We are also very surprised that despite the Government's utterances around the astounding qualities of Advocate Menzi Simelane, which makes him eligible and more qualified to lead the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Zille and her DA see his appointment as a threat the the South African Constitution.

We want to assure Zille that we have absolute confidence in Advocate Simelane and we have no doubt that he will serve the Constitution with distinction. We would also like to assure the DA that any attempts to rubbish the name of Advocate Simelane, and the judgment of our President in appointing him, will not find any acceptance within the South African populace. Just like they failed in stopping the disbandment of the politically-compromised Scorpions, they will also fail in their attempts to reverse the appointment of Advocate Simelane.

Statement issued by Jackson Mthembu, African National Congress national spokesperson, December 10 2009

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