Parliament - President Thabo Mbeki on Friday chastised opposition MPs who, he said, treated rumours and allegations as fact based in part on the belief that his Cabinet was corrupt.

In an apparent reference to allegations of corruption surrounding the arms deal, he said: "I have been concerned at the ease with which some have found it possible to treat rumours and allegations as fact, driven, in part, by the wrong concept that the executive is necessarily corrupt and suspect."

Mbeki was replying to debate on his presidential vote.

"I believe that the legislature must guard against the eventuality that the people arrive at the determination that members of Parliament are more interested in attacking the executive than in advancing the truth."

MPs who sat in the executive and Cabinet itself did not represent the epitome of evil, however much it might seem a beneficial political strategy to portray them as such, he said.

With acknowledgment to Sapa and News24.