Mr Speaker, hon Ministers and colleagues, since the controversial landing of a planeload of passengers at one of our country's most secure national key points - and I want to deliberately refer to it as national key point - government has taken great pains to publicly exonerate the President and his Cabinet from any involvement or culpability.
This had to be done because, in the mind of the public, the Gupta family's personal connection with President Zuma is somehow tainted with impropriety. Thus, whether it was true or not, the average South African assumed that the so-called Guptagate scandal somehow involved the President.
In this debate, the IFP is less interested in what the President did or did not do. We are not looking for evidence that the President involved himself in the granting of permission for the plane to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base. Our concern is whether this is the kind of leadership we want for our country, the kind of leadership under which South Africa limps from scandal to scandal. [Applause.]
Even with all the revelations, investigations and engagement with the press, this compromising of a national key point has left us with more questions than answers. But one aspect that has emerged quite clearly is that the implicated officials engaged in name-dropping to ensure that the plane landed and the guests were escorted to Sun City. In response, there have been calls for name-dropping to become a prosecutable offence.
But there is another angle to this debate that should not be overlooked. The reality is that the people who used President Zuma's name and the people who reacted to the use of President Zuma's name, were all operating on the assumption that President Zuma would sanction such a gross violation of national security when it came to his friends. [Applause.]
This debate should really be about the perceptions of the integrity of the President. This is because whether or not our President's integrity is compromised, the perception that our President lacks integrity, particularly when that perception emanates from within government structures, speaks of an ailing national leadership.
The IFP knows what leadership should look like. [Interjections.] We understand integrity and the importance of doing the right thing and being seen to do the right thing. [Interjections.] We have an unparalleled example in our leader, Prince Buthelezi, who often points out that corruption is not an inevitable part of leadership or governance, but an evil that enters where integrity fails.
Prince Buthelezi administered the erstwhile KwaZulu-Natal government for almost 19 years, and not a single allegation of corruption was ever levelled against his administration. [Interjections.] That is the kind of leadership South Africa needs.
When a leader walks in an upright way, he or she need have no fear for his or her reputation. The fact that President Zuma felt the need to avoid his friends' wedding speaks of a leader whose reputation is already compromised. The question we are left with is whether this is the kind of leadership we want for South Africa.
We are on dangerous ground when our citizens are already asking: Who really runs this country? Is it the representatives of all the people, or a handful of puppet masters pulling the strings? The President's silence on this matter is disturbing, as it was on the debacle over the Central African Republic. As the commander-in-chief of our armed forces, let alone the executive head of the country, he should have provided the nation with answers. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]