‘Voting ANC is like opening gates of heaven’

NOT voting for the ANC is like choosing the devil over God, ANC president Jacob Zuma declared on the campaign trail in the Eastern Cape.

Accompanied by Nosiviwe Mapisa- Nqakula and the party’s provincial leaders, Zuma made the statement while addressing a packed Gompo Hall in Duncan Village, East London, yesterday.

He also said not voting for the ANC was like committing a crime and went on to warn voters if they didn’t vote ANC, leaders of other political parties would get into councils and “will not do anything to help people”.

He urged Buffalo City residents not to throw their votes “into (the) dustbin”.

“The ANC liberated you. Please vote for it on August 3. Do not waste your vote to opposition parties. Voting ANC is like opening gates to heaven. If you do not vote ANC, it’s like choosing to be with devil,” he said to loud applause.

He compared the opposition DA to a “snake”.

“The DA is a product of the National Party, an organisation that oppressed us. During the apartheid era, the National Party was like a snake and because the DA is its product, the DA is also a snake.”

Zuma said the DA and other parties like EFF, Cope and the UDM were full of “lies”.

“Why vote for liars?” he asked.

Before the address, Zuma conducted a door-to-door campaign in Ziphunzana, an area of Duncan Village.

Among the people he visited was wheelchair-bound Nonkosazana Qalekiso, 53, who has lived in a dilapidated shack for 21 years.

“I want a motorised wheelchair and a decent shelter with good sanitation. When it is time to answer the call of nature, I use the bucket because I have got no good sanitation facilities. My body is in pain after I was hit by a car just outside my shack earlier this month,” a teary Qalekiso told Zuma.

In return, Zuma assured Qalekiso that a motorised wheelchair would be arranged for her by Buffalo City metro officials before next month’s election.

“The issue of you getting a decent shelter will be processed after elections,” Zuma told Qalekiso.

Zuma also addressed ANC supporters in Mdantsane outside East London and in Zwelitsha outside King William’s Town.

Today the president will address the party’s supporters at Dan Qeqe Stadium in Port Elizabeth.