The North West government plans to construct a 6m-high bronze statue in honour of President Jacob Zuma in Groot Marico.

Zuma was arrested there in 1963, while he and 45 other Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) recruits were on their way to Zambia for military training.

There were many "monumental" benefits to having the statue constructed, North West government spokesperson Brian Setswambung said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Our children will through this statue know the selflessness of our struggle icons and the role they played in defeating apartheid and ushering in a democratic order.”

A tender for the sculpting and design of the statue was issued on Sunday.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) called it a “monument to corruption”.

“People in Gopane [in the Zeerust district] are forced to still use the inhumane and dehumanising bucket system, because the government doesn’t care enough to have proper sanitation,” DA North West leader Joe McGluwa said in a statement.

“The statue millions could alleviate hundreds of bucket toilets in Gopane instead of building a monument to corruption.”

Setswambung said the DA had “selective amnesia” for disregarding Zuma’s contribution to the fight against apartheid.

“The hatred which the DA harbours against President Zuma is so alarming that any project that seeks to rightfully honour the contribution of President Zuma in the struggle against apartheid is emotionally slammed as a waste of public funds,” he said.