Small venue chosen ‘to save face for unpopular leader’
DA KWAZULU-NATAL leader Zwakele Mncwango says the use of a small stadium by the ANC for its January 8 rally was to shield the party’s President Cyril Ramaphosa from embarrassment.
Mncwango’s comments come in the aftermath of the governing party’s 108th birthday bash at Kimberley’s 11 000-capacity Tafel Lager Park Stadium on Saturday.
Mncwango said on Twitter: “Truth be told @MyANC without @PresJGZuma is a dead organisation. Msholozi can fill Moses Mabhida or FNB Stadium for his own birthday party but @CyrilRamaphosa can’t fill a small stadium.”
Speaking to Independent Media yesterday to further clarify his statement, Mncwango said the ANC still needed Zuma to attract numbers because he was a crowd-puller, popular and charismatic.
“In its history of holding the January 8 Statement, the ANC has never been to such a small stadium, they went there (Tafel Lager Park Stadium) because it’s a small stadium and they can see that Ramaphosa is not popular as a person. People are not happy with Ramaphosa,” he said.
“When I asked some senior ANC leaders, I won’t mention their names, why they were holding the KZN leg of the January 8 Statement at the Durban City Hall, because they normally go to stadiums, they told me that they were struggling (financially) and cannot risk going to a stadium,” Mncwango said.
He maintained that Zuma was undoubtedly a popular drawcard for the ANC and that everyone knew it.
“They filled up the Moses Mabhida (during the January 8 Statement and election manifesto launch in January 2019) because they had to beg Zuma to be part of the campaign, and they need Zuma to fill up stadiums not because he did well as president, but because he is a popular and charismatic figure,” Mncwango said.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe’s phone rang unanswered and he had not responded to texted questions at the time of publication.
Meanwhile, the ANC has said the creation of jobs was at the centre of its economic agenda and remained the central priority for this year.