Johannesburg - ANC presidential hopeful Lindiwe Sisulu says everyone should take responsibility for Jacob Zuma’s ascent to power and the fact that he is still the president of the country.
Sisulu said she had personally taken responsibility for the role she played in the run-up to the ANC’s elective conference in 2007, where Zuma was elected as president.
“We should all take responsibility for the fact that President Jacob Zuma is still the president of the country,” said Sisulu who was being interviewed on Talk Radio 702 on Thursday.
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The human settlements minister said the faction that she was part of, which backed Zuma, firmly believed that he was the right man for the job.
“I have taken responsibility, especially because I was part of the faction that went to Polokwane in 2007. We firmly believed that he was the one person who could take us out of the situation we were in,” she said.
“It was untenable for us that Mbeki would want to go for a third term, it was against the ANC constitution. And our best bet was Jacob Zuma.”
Sisulu also spoke at length about her plans to turn the ANC around should she be elected to run the ANC and possibly even the country in 2019.
She spoke out against the abuse of women and said her campaign was also centered around stopping violence against women.
But her toughest question was on Jacob Zuma’s rape trial in 2005 where he was accused by the late Fezekile Kuzwayo, also know as Kwezi, of rape.
Sisulu was asked whether she believed Kwezi, her version that she was raped by Zuma.
Sisulu said: “I believe she believes she was raped”. When pressed to answer if she believed Kuzwayo’s version? She said: “I don’t think I have enough evidence on that to make a decision on that. I know that both parties firmly believed what they said”.
“But beyond Kwezi I am deeply concerned about the rape of women and the death of women while society goes on. This is one of things that my campaign deals with.”
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