Village residents loyal to ANC but want Zuma gone

FINDING a Jacob Zuma supporter is like searching for a needle in a haystack in the small village of Tshikanoshi‚ Limpopo.

From the first to the last, residents appear to be anti-Zuma, associating him with corruption‚ incompetence and lack of accountability.

A deeply rural area‚ Tshikanoshi is‚ in many ways‚ a typical ANC stronghold.

Zuma is counting on these areas for support as he navigates dangerous territory as a deeply unpopular president.

But there are worrying signs for the governing party‚ which will need to hold onto areas like Tshikanoshi if it is to continue to lead the country.

Like many others, Aubrey Marota said he would prefer Cyril Ramaphosa as the next president because Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma “is another Zuma who will continue what her ex-husband started‚ protecting rogues and destroying our country.

“He [Zuma] is using Dlamini-Zuma to woo female voters to the ANC‚ to say they are getting what they wanted – a female president – but in actual fact Zuma‚ by pushing his ex-wife‚ is shielding himself from the charges he is facing and to ensure his cronies continue to steal,” Marota said.

Mpane Manyaka‚ 57, has nothing but a dilapidated house. He survives by boiling up scavenged wheat grain.

Yet‚ his love for the ANC is as insatiable as his hunger

“A few have sought to make this party serve their interests. What they forget is that the ANC is us and we are the ANC. Zuma is not for us. He must go‚” Manyaka said.