When President Jacob Zuma visited the community of Letlhabile, just outside Brits in North West yesterday, he was looking for ANC votes in next week’s municipal elections, but he may have stumbled on a solution to his personal financial woes.
The local business forum were so pleased with his presence they presented the president with a gift of six cows and offered to pay the R7.8 million Nkandla bill the Constitutional Court slapped on him.
Yesterday, the people of Madibeng Municipality, beset by water shortages amid other service delivery problems, made Zuma, in town to address a Siyanqoba mini-rally as the campaigning for next week’s elections wraps up, an offer he would find hard to refuse.
Zuma dedicated more than half of his speech to history lessons, in an effort to stop the local community from abandoning the ANC.
He rounded on opposition parties, particularly the DA, who he accused of appropriating the ANC’s history and the name of Nelson Mandela in particular, in their campaign.
“The DA is the most confused party,” Zuma said. “They don’t know whether they are white or black. They don’t know what they are standing for.”
Zuma earlier visited Maboloka, a few kilometres from Letlhabile, where residents anxiously waited to tell him of their struggles for water.
They also complained bitterly about the lack of local development, poor roads and unemployment.
Perhaps realising the threat posed by the opposition, Zuma pleaded with Madibeng voters to ensure the ANC received the majority of votes at the polls next week.
He said an overwhelming vote or the ANC would ensure it had “bigger power to govern the country”.
@thabiso_tk