Deputy President calls for moral Movies & TV

The Deputy President Jakob Zuma has called for moral regeneration and for Christians to take the lead in this.

He was speaking at the inaugural Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture instituted by the Western Cape Province Council of Churches.

Zuma's call for opposition to moral degeneration came as his name was frequently mentioned in the Durban High Court trial of his close friend Schabir Shaik, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption involving the arms deal.

On Tuesday, a former secretary of French arms company Thint testified about a coded fax in which the company was allegedly asked to pay a bribe to Zuma.

But during his speech, Zuma appeared relaxed and self-assured, intensely concerned with the subject of his lecture.

He blasted material such as photographs of nudity and violence in the print media and violence and open sex in television programmes and said that South Africans could not expect their children not to act violently or immorally if this sort of material entered their homes every day.

"The excuse people give is that such and such a film has an age restriction. This is more of an invitation for children to try and watch it without their parents knowing," he said.

"People can call me a backward politician and out of touch with today, I don't mind.