Zuma lobbies for ANC in his stronghold
FORMER president Jacob Zuma has shown himself to be an exemplary leader who does not neglect the ANC just because he lost power, said KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli during a mini-rally in Clermont, outside Durban.
Zuma spent the weekend campaigning for the ANC in the province.
Yesterday he conducted a door-todoor campaign in uMlazi from 6am, before addressing senior citizens about the ANC at a hotel in Durban.
After addressing a large crowd in Clermont, he proceeded to campaign at various taxi ranks in Pietermaritzburg.
“We approached Nxamalala to take some days from his retirement with his grandchildren to campaign for the ANC, because his other grandchildren are also spread across the province and the country,” Ntuli said.
“We told him that it will be important to get people to fill up Moses Mabhida Stadium for the January 8 statement,” Ntuli added.
In Clermont, Zuma called on ANC members to form a united front “because the next election would be more difficult than previous elections”.
“The next elections are more difficult because opposition parties are conspiring to weaken the ANC by reducing its votes to below 50%, so that it won’t be able to take important decisions. We want a two-thirds majority because the ANC has a responsibility to reclaim our land,” he said.
The January 8 statement, which will be the ANC’s 107-year anniversary, will be made by President Cyril Ramaphosa on January 12.
Zuma said members should accept that the ANC will always have different opinions among its leaders as part of debating culture and democracy.
He said if comrades became enemies, they would destroy themselves and the ANC, which still had a lot to do to complete the liberation struggle, as they had not “completed decolonisation”, Zuma said.
“We have not even done half of decolonisation. We have only removed national oppression, but we are still down the line when it comes to removing economic oppression,” he said.
He also called upon ANC supporters in the province, which is known to be his stronghold, to never turn against the party just because they do not support “certain individuals”.