SA people don’t trust ANC ‘led by thieves’ – Phosa
ANC presidential hopeful Mathews Phosa accused some of today’s ANC leaders, singling out president Jacob Zuma, of enriching themselves and their relatives at the expense of the poor masses.
He said post-1994, people loved the ANC and trusted it, “but today people don’t trust the movement and don’t love it because it is led by thieves”.
“We have thieves in our midst. We must not shy away and mince words here. Jacob Zuma is the first ANC president to be accused, along with his children, of stealing from the poor. We are told they do that in broad daylight, not at night. We must deal with these issues,” said Phosa.
Campaigning in Adelaide at a memorial lecture in honour of late ANC president Oliver Tambo on Saturday, he told the packed hall that looting had become such a regular practice that some cabinet ministers and premiers were doing it too. “This cannot be right.” “We must arrest them, prosecute them and put them in jail because they are stealing our money.”
Amathole region’s ward 22 branch leader Simphiwe Magaga said they had invited Phosa to the lecture because he was the only presidential hopeful so far who was not tainted with corruption. His struggle credentials speak volumes, said Magaga, of Adelaide, who organised the event.
Phosa said Tambo had loved and cared for the people.
“How many leaders in our days care for the ordinary citizens? They don’t care for us. They only love and care for their children and relatives,” said Phosa.
He also took a swipe at the Gupta family, accusing them of looting state resources and sharing the loot with Zuma and his children.
Phosa said Tambo “brought us back our dignity – the dignity apartheid wanted to deny us”.
“After 27 years in exile leading the ANC, he came back home when the ANC was unbanned and handed over to us a united ANC.
“When Nelson Mandela took over as ANC leader, he took up where Tambo left off – that is why a united ANC is Tambo’s legacy,” said the former treasurer-general of the ruling party.
Phosa said the numbers of good leaders in the ANC were dwindling, because if there were still leaders of Tambo’s calibre, farm workers in areas such as Adelaide would not be suffering as they did today.
“Those farm workers need human rights like all of us. We need to address these issues because farm workers too must be treated with dignity,” he added.
The former Mpumalanga premier said Zuma had stolen the ANC from its rightful owners, the people.
“We have to take belongs,” he added.
He invited back to the ANC former party leaders who have since created new political parties.
“We want leaders such as [Bantu] Holomisa and Terror [Mosiuoa Lekota of COPE] and our young lions in the EFF back in the ANC to create a mass-based ANC like we had in the past.
“They all belong here. This is a people’s movement and South Africa needs a united, strong ANC to be able to win back Nelson Mandela Metro and the City of Johannesburg.
“I never thought while in exile that on our return, the place where we buried Govan Mbeki [Port Elizabeth] would be run by the DA. When we said we want to go to Pretoria, we meant it. But look – today, Pretoria is under the DA because of ANC divisions. This has to come to an end.” — it back to where it