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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the firm stand taken by ANC Chief Whip Mathole Motshekga against recent statements by ANC MP Nkosi Patekile Holomisa. We call on the honourable Chief Whip to go one step further and suspend Honourable Holomisa until he apologises.

Honourable Holomisa was this weekend reported as stating that "the ANC knows that the ‘great majority' of South Africans do not want to promote or protect the rights of gays and lesbians.”

These comments follow a submission by the House of Traditional Leaders to Parliament’s Constitutional Review Committee, proposing the removal of the constitutional provision protecting individuals from being discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation.

It goes without saying that this proposal, and Holomisa’s utterances, have no place in an egalitarian and progressive democracy such as ours.

Honourable Holomisa must apologise. His deeply prejudiced views undermine the values of equality, dignity and freedom on which our democracy is based, and for which so many fought so hard for.