Durban - Duduzane Zuma on Thursday blasted the country’s incumbent governing administration, led by his father’s successor President Cyril Ramaphosa, for having failed to step up to give South Africa a sense of direction.
Zuma junior revealed this on Thursday during a wide-ranging interview with pay TV channel Newzroom Afrika during which he also said that his face could just be on the ballot come the 2024 national and provincial general elections.
In his response to questions sent by Independent Media, to allegations made by Duduzane against the Ramaphosa administration, Presidency acting spokesperson Tyrone Seale said: “In a democracy such as ours, Mr Zuma is entitled to express his views.”
Zuma junior, who said that he was an ANC branch member in Newlands East, Durban, said that although he was a businessman he was taking a political attitude into how things were being done.
“I am an ANC member, I was born in the ANC, the ANC grew me up but, there are certain issues of a particular nature that we all need to deal with.
“I think there’s a gap in youth leadership, there’s a gap in business, gatekeeping that exists,” Zuma said.
He said that he was not intending on running for the ANC Youth League presidency although he did believe that there was a lot of confusion that’s been put forward by the leadership that exists in the ANC.
“There’s no clear direction that’s been given, we’re living in a country where there’s a lot of confusion whether we like it or not. People are failing to step up, in government and the private sector and general politics. This is a reference to the current administration,” Zuma junior said.
He said he did not want to dwell on the claims his father’s nine-year tenure at the helm at the Union Buildings were “nine wasted years”.
Instead, the 36-year-old Zuma junior said he wanted to look onward to what measures can be taken to get South Africa back to its credible state and being an African player and a global leader in industrialisation and infrastructure programmes.
“We need to get people’s attitudes to change because you have people and businesses that don’t respect themselves and others, there’s no discipline.
“That is what we need to be looking at.”
However, he did not explicitly indicate he would pursue his political career through his political home the ANC or as an independent candidate but, instead said he would do so through the people who had the faith and trust in him to do so “whoever that is and whoever rides with me, I’m going to ride with them”.
“You might just see my face on the ballot paper, as a matter of fact, I believe there’s a strong chance that could happen in 2024, via the electorate.”
Speaking on Duduzane’s political ambitions, political analyst Ralph Mathekga said Zuma would most likely try to go through this via the ANC because the Zuma surname carries a lot of weight within the party, and not as an individual candidate.
“He seems to believe he will get to enjoy the same support his father enjoyed and seems to mobilise on that front, however, it’s not the same because he’s not so much known as an ANC activist.
“But he most likely would pursue such ambitions through the ANC,” said Mathekga.
Another political analyst Mighti Jamie said that Duduzane’s criticism of the current administration was a generic criticism from anyone in opposition politics.
“I think he wants to appeal to the youth and this is why he donated money at UKZN, so this message is one that resonates with the young people of South Africa,” said Jamie.
He added that the younger Zuma had a chance to succeed in the political arena as the voting demographic had a lot of Zuma supporters and he had been well received by the young people on campuses.
“He has brand recognition and that’s always a useful element. He also has proximity to seasoned politicians who can groom him.
“I don’t know what his intentions may be, it could be that he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. It could be that he feels like his family was treated poorly. It’s difficult to know a person’s heart and intentions accurately,” Jamie said.
Political Bureau