Cape Town - President Jacob Zuma stepped up his charm offensive in Cape Town, wooing township residents as he extended an open invitation for all to attend the ANC’s 103rd birthday bash at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Making his first public appearance ahead of the ANC’s rally, the president, flanked by heavily armed police, used Tuesday’s visit to encourage residents to vote for the ANC and help oust the DA from the province.
Those lining the streets pushed and shoved as they tried to catch a glimpse of Zuma and his delegation. The president responded with his usual charm, coupled with singing his trademark song “Umshini Wam” and “Yinde lendlela esiyihambayo”.
Without specifically naming the DA, Zuma took a swipe at the provincial government, saying the Western Cape was the only province led “by people who don’t even know the struggles of the poor”.
These people only focused on helping those in their own areas, he said.
Addressing crowds in Philippi before moving on to the Nyanga taxi rank and Nyanga Junction shopping centre in Gugulethu, a Xhosa-speaking Zuma urged residents to use their votes wisely to assist the ANC to wrest back control of the province during the next local government elections next year.
Promising to tackle the problems facing the poor in the Western Cape, Zuma said only the ANC could change the lives of the people in the province. “The ANC wants to get back this province, because they know what needs to be done.”
Ramming home his message, Zuma added: “You can’t groom a horse and then when the horse is old someone (DA) just comes in and rides it… That person does not even know what is happening, but he is just riding the horse.”
Addressing those who blamed the government for everything that went wrong in the country, including load shedding, a shortage of housing and a lack of services, Zuma said those critics easily forgot that during apartheid electricity was “only meant for the white people”, the economy was only for the white people, and nobody cared about the people in the villages.
“People of the Western Cape, we want to take this province. We want to take it. If we don’t take it nothing is going to go right here because the people that are controlling it don’t know poverty,” he told a crowd in Gugulethu.
Xolani Sotashe, chairman of the ANC Dullah Omar region, said the ANC would paint Cape Town black, green and gold this weekend. “Zille must have a heart attack. When she wakes up she must see black, green and gold.”
ANC provincial chairman Marius Fransman urged residents to join thousands of ANC members “who will be coming from the north, south, east, west, from the hills, the valleys, the mountains, the townships and the Cape Flats” to join the celebrations.
And he encouraged supporters to get information about buses leaving for the stadium from their local branches. “If by accident you miss that bus, you take the train and make you’re on your way to the stadium.”
Most residents said they were eager to attend the celebrations and would not miss it for the world.
Cape Argus