Giyani - President Jacob Zuma has called on leaders to humble themselves and heed calls for their removal from office if the citizens wanted them to step down.
In a Freedom Day message on Wednesday, the president said elected leaders should be bold enough to accept change and relinquish power if the electorate wanted them to go.
“We should all humble ourselves. If you’re elected at one point and people no longer want you, humble yourself and accept it so that change will come, if people believe we need change,” he said, addressing thousands of people at Giyani Stadium in Limpopo.
The president’s message came just 10 days after the ANC was left red-faced following a relatively poor turnout at its elections manifesto launch at the 46 000-capacity Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
He chose a smaller stadium with a capacity of about 20 000 for the Freedom Day celebrations.
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His address came against the backdrop of sustained clamour for him to step down from office, precipitated by the Constitutional Court ruling that he had violated the constitution for failing to comply with the public protector’s remedial actions in the non-security upgrade costs at Nkandla.
Zuma has about four weeks before he knows how much he must pay toward its costs.
As Zuma delivered his keynote address, civil-society movements held protests calling on him to resign in all the country’s major cities, including Joburg, Cape Town and Durban.
Zuma appeared to contradict himself as he said leaders should humble themselves and renounce power but then said this must only be done democratically.
“But you can’t take short cuts; you must accept the democratic institutions (so that we live) in a peaceful, democratic state where the will of the people prevails,” he said.
The president admitted that South Africa faced “several challenges”, but attributed this to a “new democracy and a developing country”.
The president also criticised those who “abused their political rights to advance their own visions”.
Zuma recently apologised for the confusion caused, after the Constitutional Court found that he failed to uphold, defend and protect the constitution. This was in relation to the public protector’s remedial actions on the Nkandla upgrades.
Earlier, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa assured the president that “people who take short cuts of votes of no confidence are not going to succeed”.
Almost around the same time as Zuma spoke in Giyani, civil-society movements criticised his leadership style and called on him to step down.
In Joburg, a message from ANC Struggle stalwart Denis Goldberg was read, in which he called on the masses to protect Chapter 9 institutions, including the Public Protector.
He said there had been attempts to weaken the institutions, and called on the ANC to regain its moral strength for people to have confidence in it.
Goldberg said the apology was not enough.
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Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota, who attended the march,said Zuma was no longer running the country, but had outsourced this crucial responsibility to his cronies.
He said, to loud applause: “We are governed by a group of men and women who want to run the affairs of the nation according to their wishes.”
The Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma must personally pay back the money 45 days after an amount has been determined by the National Treasury, which in turn was given 60 days for the task.
Despite all the scandals associated with his administration, Zuma seemed undeterred on Wednesday as he took some time to reflect on the beauty of the country.
“We should all celebrate our collective achievements, and work to correct whatever needs to be corrected as we move towards a more prosperous society.”
He also assured that “the citizens’ faith in our constitutional democracy has never been stronger”, before turning his focus on opposition parties and populists who he said were tarnishing South Africa’s name abroad.
He said populists wanted to build their political careers on the back of violent protests, but people ought to protest peacefully.
“We should isolate all those who promote violence and anarchy. We know some within our communities believe such violence will make them popular and try to use anarchy to build their careers.”
DA leader Mmusi Maimane, who visited Zandspruit informal settlement on Wednesday, accused the ruling party of “taking its foot off the accelerator” when it achieved political freedom in 1994.
“The people of Zandspruit, like so many other forgotten communities across South Africa, are not yet free.
“We cannot celebrate Freedom Day here in Zandspruit and pretend that the people of this community are free. Yours is a freedom that still needs to be fought for,” he said.