Speaker, the DA calls on hon President Jacob Zuma and the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, hon Maite Nkoana- Mashabane, to endorse the proposed establishment of a Commonwealth human rights commissioner. Such an act will give credibility to the notion that South Africa's foreign policy is based on human rights, the rule of law and the values of ubuntu.
It has been reported that our government does not support this proposal. If this is true, then government is frustrating attempts to achieve the realisation of human rights in other countries. Last week the President rolled out the red carpet for a person who is guilty of some of the grossest human rights abuses in the world, the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. President Zuma welcomed Africa's longest-serving ruler - 32 years - with open arms, never even mentioning his terrible human rights record. [Interjections.]