KwaZulu-Natal ANC chairman Zweli Mkhize on Sunday night called on politicians to stop insulting one another.

He said some of the defamatory statements that are being made were not even used in context and quite often caused a huge problem.

"As leaders, we need to stop insulting and lead by example."

He said each party must be given their own space to campaign for the election and voters a chance to choose who they support.
Mkhize said some politicians had made such defamatory statements that they could be sued for it.

"When there is a conflict we need to resolve it. As the ANC we don't stand there holier than thou, we solve it."

He stressed that with the elections around the corner, campaigning was imminent but that respecting each other also showed that they were civilised leaders.

He said there was no need for derogatory statements to fellow politicians.

Making reference to comments by the United Democratic Movement's (UDM) Bantu Holomisa, Mkhize said it was an example of things being taken out of context.

Holomisa said earlier this week at the Independent Electoral
Commission's electoral conference that the UDM and the Congress of the People (Cope) were victims of the ANC and that any attack on Cope was an attack on all parties.

Mkhize said this defamatory statement was uncalled for and taken out of context.