Zuma gets busy with registration
Former president does a walkabout in KZN
FORMER president Jacob Zuma has given an assurance that his love for the ANC is far from over despite the leadership of his party forcing him to resign last month. “We will be calling on the voters to vote for the ANC, and there is no doubt about it. For some of us our votes are not secret and are very open.
“I would vote even if you were looking at my ballot paper,” Zuma told journalists.
During a voter registration drive, Zuma spent the better part of yesterday advising prospective voters to go out and register. He and KwaZulu-Natal ANC co-ordinator Sihle Zikalala started the day by attending a two-hour church service at the KwaMashu Christian Centre (KCC) where Bishop Nicholas Mzimela called on about 1 000 of his congregants to prepare themselves to “block DA from taking over the country”.
“No white party should rule this country,” the churchman said.
Zuma told congregants they should register even if they have not decided whether to vote “because you might later decide that you want to vote for a certain party”.
“If you don’t register today you might not be able to vote even after having made your decision,” said Zuma.
After the service, Zuma brought nearby Bridge City Mall to a standstill as he did a walkabout, distributing ANC voter registration pamphlets.
He later proceeded to have lunch at the Artizen Restaurant and Lounge where he was served boiled chicken, tripe and steamed-bread while listening to afro jazz music.
He resumed his work by conducting a door-to-door campaign. He visited 75-year-old Evaline Ndlela who lives in a dilapidated four-bedroom house that used to be a water station. She only uses two rooms as the other two still have old water pipes installed although these are no longer working. She told Zuma that her ailing husband Lucas Ndlela disappeared eight years ago after he left to collect his medication for high blood pressure at a local clinic.
“Even today we are still looking for him. We don’t know whether or not he is still alive. We suspect he died on his way to or from the clinic.
“But I will vote as I had been always voting,” she said.
Zuma said he had no doubt that during next year’s general elections the ANC would emerge victorious in KwaZuluNatal.
“The ANC is big, the ANC has the support of the country. I know no other party that is supported like the ANC. I know no other party that is in every corner of the country except the ANC,” he said.
Zuma said he came to conduct voter registration in his home province because he also had to go to his voting station in Nkandla on Saturday to check if his name still appeared on the voters’ roll. On the day he also visited Esikhaleni Shopping Centre in Richards Bay and a local taxi rank.