The Human Rights Commission (HRC) on Wednesday criticised the political mud-slinging between the ANC, its allies and the Democratic Alliance after a minister and MK veterans launched further attacks on Helen Zille.

"The tone of the debate, if you look at it, both sides have not conducted themselves well. The language of the ANC itself needs to be examined," HRC media officer Vincent Moaga said.

"The country does not need this right now."

Moaga said the HRC feared "it is not going to stop" and might call all parties involved to a meeting to ask that they tone down the rhetoric that has in the past two days descended to slurs of sexual irresponsibility and promiscuity.

The ANC on Wednesday rebuked the ANC Youth League for what it termed a "deeply embarrassing" attack on DA leader Zille after she accused President Jacob Zuma of putting his three wives at risk of contracting HIV.

"The African National Congress distances itself from comments by an ANC Youth League spokesperson yesterday (12 May 2009) about DA leader Helen Zille and her provincial cabinet," secretary general Gwede Mantashe said.

He said while the ruling party strongly objected to Zille's remarks on Zuma, it could not tolerate the outburst by the ANCYL, which accused Zille of sleeping with her colleagues.

Zille was quoted in the press on Tuesday as saying: "Zuma is a self-confessed womaniser with deeply sexist views, who put all his wives at risk by having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman."

She was reacting to criticism from the minister of women, youth, children and people with disabilities, Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, for appointing only men to the provincial executive in the Western Cape, where she became premier this month.

Zille's rebuttal

Zille said the minister had "a nerve" because the ANC has never been led by a woman, adding that the party's "professions of support for women's rights ring hollow indeed against this background".

The youth league hit back: "Zille has appointed an all male cabinet of useless people, majority of whom are her boyfriends and concubines so that she can continue to sleep around with them (sic), yet she claims to have the moral authority to question our President."

Said Mantashe: "Zille's statements earlier in the week about President Jacob Zuma were indeed reprehensible and, quite correctly, were roundly condemned.

"But this does not justify the comments by the ANC Youth League. These comments are deeply embarrassing to the ANC, and reflect a marked departure from the ANC's approach to political engagement."

But in the meanwhile, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande questioned Zille's sanity and the youth league said it stood by its views on the premier.

"I'm worried if Helen Zille is still together upstairs," Nzimande, also general secretary of the South African Communist Party, told a trade union meeting in Johannesburg.

He added that she was running a "Bantustan of special order" in the Western Cape.

Youth league spokesperson Floyd Shivambu said the organisation believed "Helen is a racist girl who does not respect women, African people, cultures and traditions".

"We further believe that her behaviour and sentiments are symptomatic of someone who was dropped on her head when she was a child."

The Western Cape branch of the ANCYL also joined in the fray.

"Her continuous attacks on President Jacob Zuma attest to her deep hatred and disregard for black people.

"The arrogant exclusion of women in the cabinet of the province, which is mostly populated by skilled and intelligent women, is the reverse of the gains that the women of this province and the country have gained in the last fifteen years of democracy," it said.

MK threatens Zille

The MK Military Veteran's Association weighed in with a threat to render the Western Cape ungovernable.

"Should Helen Zille not refrain from this anti-African and racist behaviour, we are not going to hesitate, but craft and launch a political programme aimed at rendering the Western Cape ungovernable," MKMVA chairperson Kebby Maphatsoe said.

Zille has been unrepentant about appointing only male MECs, saying she did so on the basis of "fitness for purpose".

The HRC confirmed that it has received a formal complaint from the Congress of South African Trade Unions about the composition of her executive. Cosatu has also taken the matter to the Equality Court.

Moage said though some of this week's invective could be grounds for legal action he believed the matter might be better resolved through dialogue.

The row erupted less than a week after Zuma held out an olive branch to the opposition, saying he hoped his term will be marked by better relations and cooperation.