‘Political parties are sowing division’

Zuma tells supporters politicians dividing communities for own gain

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma has accused political parties of abusing their political rights, saying they were creating divisions among South Africans. During his Freedom Day address at Giyani Stadium in Limpopo, Zuma told thousands of people that politicians were dividing communities for their own gains.

“There are people who are abusing their political rights. Politics is not meant as an instrument to divide people and they must be exposed.”.

Zuma recalled how 22 years ago, South Africans from all walks of life voted in the country’s first democratic elections and reminded people that the country’s hardwon freedom had come at a cost.

“Millions of our people suffered through institutionalised racism and were dehumanised in various ways,” he said.

Many people, he recalled, were “brutally murdered, imprisoned or tortured”.

The year 1994, he said “not only marked the end of the tyranny of apartheid, it also symbolised the triumph of good over evil”.

The ANC-led government, he said, was committed to undoing apartheid’s “legacy of exclusion and neglect” and had worked since 1994 to ensure that rural communities had access to basic services.

Giyani, he said, was declared a disaster zone in 2009 and had been brought into the Presidential Siyahlola Programme to resuscitate the area’s water supply.

Zuma called on people to use water wisely given the country’s persistent drought. “We must continue to save water. “We have no choice. The situation is serious and is affecting both households and our farming communities who are supposed to ensure food security in our country.”

Zuma appealed to communities to protest peacefully and to vote in the August local government elections. He warned that those who promoted violence and anarchy would be isolated. Many people he said had worked hard to build the country.

“It must not be destroyed by anarchists who have no interest in our well-being.”

As Arts and Culture Minster Nathi Mthethwa ushered the president off the stage, he issued a warning to the ANC-led government’s critics that Zuma would not be removed before the end of his term.

Mthethwa said: “The people who want to take shortcuts and make a motion-of-noconfidence will not succeed as we are going to take this country forward.” – ANA