THIS weekend, former ANC president Jacob Zuma led an ANC mini-rally organised by the General Gizenga Mpanza Region in Mandeni, north of Durban.
During his speech, Zuma urged would-be ANC voters to not be discouraged or take their anger against individuals out on the party.
He said in spite of all the problems the ANC is facing, they should continue to support the party and do the right thing by the ANC.
“I do not want to talk about the way the party is conducting itself at the moment. We want the ANC to help change the lives of the poor people …And myself as Gedleyihlekisa, I am concerned about the direction the ANC is taking and how it is led. You can’t say, I’m not going to vote because of a certain individual. The ANC does not belong to individuals,” he said.
It would seem that the former ANC leader who was recalled by the party as ANC president and country president in 2017 and 2018, respectively, has for the sake of the party, agreed to be part of the election campaign trail to garner support for the ANC in his home province of KZN.
He said supporting the ANC should be unconditional and the party must come first to those who truly care about it.
“You must support the ANC in spite of the fact that you are angry. You can’t say that because I am angry, I will not support it. You can’t throw away what you you want to bestow onto your next generation. This is their legacy. You must not stay at home just because you are angry against one person. Did you join the ANC because of that one individual?” he said.
Zuma said more and more ANC supporters in all other regions in the province must come out in their numbers and vote for the ANC next year.
“Even if all of us here vote for the ANC next year, it will not be enough. We must encourage other members in other branches and regions to do the right thing and vote. We must set an example, so that when the results come, they will know that here even the eldest woman who cant even walk came out to vote for the ANC,” he said.
Zuma reminded those gathered that “voting was the only weapon and tool to be used to effect change in the lives of ordinary South Africans”.
“Voting is the only solution and weapon to effect change. It is the only weapon to get service delivery and solve all our problems and make economic freedom a reality in our own lives,” he added.
In August this year, ANC’s Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) confirmed that it was in discussions with the former president in a bid to get him to assist it in the province ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Zuma was released from prison following a remission of sentence for non-violent offenders sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2021 after he refused to testify before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.
Zuma is currently embroiled in a litany of legal battles including the ongoing arms deal trial, together with French arms company Thales, in which both face charges of racketeering, corruption, money laundering and fraud charges relating to the 1990s arms deal.
Unlike former president Thabo Mbeki who has refused to campaign for the ruling party, the former MEC of economic development in the province, has not let his legal troubles as well as ideological differences with President Cyril Ramaphosa stop him from campaigning for his party.