Former president Jacob Zuma has described his new political party, uMkhonto weSizwe, as a movement that will change the face of the country forever.
Zuma was speaking in Madadeni, Newcastle, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, at a meeting organised under the party’s banner on Sunday.
He is leading the campaign for the new party which is mobilising across the country and seems to be enjoying a groundswell of support.
On Saturday, the party was in Mkhondo, Mpumalanga, where Zuma also addressed thousands of people.
Video footage of the rally in Madadeni showed the hall was packed to the rafters, with people struggling to find seats, while others were seated on the floor. Many of those attending were wearing the T-shirts of the new political formation.
Although the event was supposed to start at 11am, Zuma arrived at the venue just before 2pm.
The former president told thousands of his supporters in the packed hall that they were not playing games with the formation of the MK, adding that its purpose was bigger than a political party.
Zuma said the public should no longer tolerate not being respected or listened to.
“We must change that. Listen to me very carefully. We are not here to play games, we are not starting a political party. Parties splinter and fail. This is a movement,” he said.
“We have to fix things. Our country is in trouble and the leaders say nothing about fixing our problems.
“We need true leaders. It is not nice to have leaders who are arrogant and brag about their money. We have a serious problem here,” said Zuma.
In what seemed to be a direct attack on, and a mocking of, President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Phala Phala money scandal, Zuma told of some leaders who had been robbed of money and then gave the criminals more money to hide.
Speaking in Mkhondo, Zuma said he was left with no option but to return to active politics because he saw things in the country deteriorating and the public being neglected by the ANC.
One of the attendees and the organisers of the Madadeni event, advocate Terrence Buthelezi, said the community hall could not hold all those who were in attendance. He described the new party and its campaign as a revolution.
“That hall can handle about 2 500 people. It was very small, there was a huge overflow outside. There were more people outside the hall than inside,” he said.
Buthelezi spoke about the main message that Zuma delivered. “He wants the party to secure a two-thirds majority, and he delivered a scathing rebuke of the current president, Ramaphosa.”
The Mercury