Supporters leave stadium during Zuma’s address
THE ANC’s desperation to fill the 94 000-seater FNB Stadium resulted in a four-hour delay of its provincial manifesto launch rally in Johannesburg yesterday.
The programme was put on hold as ANC members and supporters who had been bused in trickled into the stadium.
President Jacob Zuma, his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa and ANC Gauteng chairman Paul Mashatile only entered the stadium shortly before 3pm.
They received a warm welcome from supporters before the formal programme began.
But the stadium was virtually empty long before Zuma completed his speech, as supporters walked out.
This despite numerous assurances by the leadership that nobody would be left behind by their buses.
Provincial secretary Hope Papo denied that people left because they did not want to listen to Zuma. “People were here since early in the morning and they were hungry. We didn’t provide food so they had to get food. It was not personal against the president,” he said.
Gauteng premier David Makhura, the ANC provincial deputy chairman, announced that 85 000 people had entered the stadium.
Political parties have been using stadium turnout as a benchmark for support.
In the run-up to this rally, Mashatile vowed to fill the stadium “without any help” after a poor turnout at the ANC’s national rally in Nelson Mandela Bay last month.
Zuma began his address by saying it was vital for the party to win the local government elections in all municipalities.
“We are not saying this because we are power-hungry as the ANC.
“We say so because the track record of the ANC can only improve the lives of our people and change the lives of our people,” he said.
Zuma said the Gauteng metros continued to shine and lauded the accomplishment of a positive outlook by credit ratings agencies.
After focusing on the elections, Zuma turned to the economy. “Government is working with business and labour in an unprecedented manner to turn the economy around,” he said.
South Africa wanted to be a friendlier destination for investors and Zuma welcomed the decision taken on Friday by S&P Global Ratings to keep South Africa’s sovereign rating unchanged.
“They realise that as a nation we are working together to change the conditions in the country,” he said.
Zuma concluded his speech by saying that a vote for the ANC on August 3 would be a vote for the future.
“A vote means the power to run the country.”
Earlier, Mashatile described the ANC’s manifesto for South Africa’s economic heartland as a “solemn pledge”.
“In the coming five years we will work even harder to build a strong local government,” Mashatile told the crowd.
“We will continue to ensure those we deploy in local government are capacitated with skill to execute the people’s mandate,” he said.
Makhura said the ANC in Gauteng was “ready for war”.