Judging from their recent exchanges in parliament, the debate on race between President Thabo Mbeki and Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon is a dialogue of the deaf. Neither man seems willing to listen to his interlocutor. Mbeki interprets criticism of the pre-dominantly black ANC-led government as a campaign perpetuated to negatively stereotype black Africans, particularly when it focuses on allegations of corruption. Leon accuses Mbeki of seeking to deflect legitimate criticism by playing the race card and portraying his political opponents as people who have not excised the prejudices of the apartheid past from their minds.