Zuma in crosshairs during poll speeches

Published Apr 7, 2014

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Solly Maphumulo, Mpume Madlala and Sapa

Johannesburg - With elections only a month away, political campaigning hotted up at the weekend, with President Jacob Zuma and Nkandla – “where cows live better than people” – targeted.

In Kliptown, Soweto, Economic Freedom Fighters president Julius Malema told supporters on Sunday there was no Mandela – instead, there was a shower man (Zuma) and the swimming pool.

During the rally, he introduced Dali Mpofu as the party’s premier candidate in Gauteng.

Taking aim at Zuma and the ANC, he said that when the Freedom Charter was adopted in Kliptown, it emphasised that people should get houses and electricity, but when he looked around, all he saw was poverty.

“This is a living proof that there is no good story to tell 20 years into democracy,” he said to cheers.

Malema urged the crowd to take pictures of Kliptown, and “if someone says the ANC has delivered”, ask where it had delivered.

“They should have started where the Freedom Charter was adopted,” he added.

Malema also condemned those who burnt down an EFF tent, allegedly with petrol bombs, in Thokoza, Ekurhuleni, at the weekend. He blamed it on the ANC, saying it regarded the EFF as a threat.

The ANC, however, has denied involvement in the incident.

Simultaneously, DA premier candidate Mmusi Maimane told communities in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, that Zuma’s livestock had better living conditions than communities in Tembisa.

“Our people in Tembisa wonder where the development is. Around here, our grandmothers are digging their own toilets,” he said after addressing a protest where jobs were demanded.

“There is no progress here. South Africans cannot find work. The report of the public protector confirms our view that President Jacob Zuma took money and benefited personally.”

He was referring to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on the security upgrades to Zuma’s Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal, homestead.

Maimane led hundreds of DA supporters marching in Tembisa.

“People’s lives in the East Rand are not good. The main problem is that President Jacob Zuma’s cattle have a better life than your life here,” Maimane said to loud cheers and ululation.

“His chickens lead a better life than people in this community. In his last term in office, President Zuma lost more jobs than he created.”

In KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday, Zuma took the opportunity to electioneer while opening a low-cost housing development.

“Slowly, we will get to where we are going… We must work hard to build our country,” he told the residents of Cornubia, which is a presidential project and a joint venture between the national and provincial Department of Human Settlements, the eThekwini municipality and Tongaat Hulett Developments.

Zuma reminded the crowd of how much the government had achieved with service delivery and painted a picture of how life would improve for Cornubia residents, with better transport and job opportunities that were still to come as work progressed.

“Jobs will be across the road and people can just walk. Everything must be here. Those who say we make promises we don’t keep don’t have ears. Anyone who can’t see that South Africa is changing is pretending,” the president said.

Zuma added there were similar projects across the country.

The project, worth R25 billion, will be completed over 20 years. Once completed, it will have 28 000 mixed-income housing units, light industrial factories, retail parks, schools, businesses and parks.

Cope focused its campaigning on Alexandra, north of Joburg.

The SABC reported the party said it wanted to lodge a complaint with the SA Human Rights Commission about the poor conditions at the overcrowded women’s hostel in the area. The hostel, constructed to accommodate 2 000 women, houses 3 000.

The Star

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