President Jacob Zuma has dismissed suggestions that the country is headed in the wrong direction and degenerating into a "failed state".
A relaxed and buoyant Zuma instead accused opposition MPs of being "drugged" by negative propaganda and of neglecting their parliamentary duties.
Zuma was closing the debate on his budget that started on Wednesday‚ in which he was attacked by opposition MPs who called him "President Gupta" as they claimed he was leading the country astray.
He also dismissed allegations that the Gupta family had captured the state as nothing but "allegations and rumours".
"Honourable [Sejamothopo] Motau‚ SA is not on the road to being a failed state. Unless you are living in another country‚ a SA we don’t know. You need to free yourself from your party’s propaganda and honestly track the progress that SA is making. You will feel proud to have been a leader during this period in our democratic transition."
Zuma said things would be better for the DA MP‚ who was not present in the chamber‚ if he left the "propaganda world and came to a truthful world".
Zuma was addressing a half-full National Assembly chamber as the main opposition parties such as the DA‚ EFF‚ Cope and the UDM boycotted the session.
Zuma castigated the parties for snubbing his reply‚ accusing them of dereliction of duty.
"By the way‚ this is part of the problem. You have people who are elected by the people to be in Parliament‚ debate‚ make laws‚ but who decide not to come to Parliament. They are here to say whatever they want.
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"They don’t even want to hear the response. That tells you that whatever you say‚ they are not listening. They are hooked and trapped by their own propaganda world which they believe exists.
"Even in the debate, they can’t argue. All they do is to just hurl insults. We don’t realise that, because we are drugged by our propaganda‚ some people‚ unfortunately. May God be with them‚" said Zuma.
Responding to Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald‚ Zuma said he was not a racist and had been led by white people during the struggle against apartheid.
During Wednesday’s debate on the Presidency budget vote, Groenewald made a call on Zuma "to tell white people where they stand".
Zuma said he did not hate white people, and that the land issue would be resolved within the law. "I do not hate whites. I have whites who are my comrades, who I trust. I have been commanded by whites in the fight for freedom. I am a democrat in the true sense of the word…. I am one of those who will defend whites when someone says ‘let’s kill whites’…. we want all South Africans to benefit from the wealth of the country," said Zuma.
"We will not do it [land reform] like Zimbabwe. This is South Africa, not Zimbabwe. Why do you think I hate the whites? I have said if we fail to address the land question, we will sit down and look at changing the law. That is my position and that of the ANC. It will all be done within the law."
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