Cape Town -
President Jacob Zuma received a hero's welcome from about 40 000 ANC supporters at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday as the party feted it's 103rd anniversary on opposition turf.
Zuma and ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa did a lap of the stadium and waved to supporters before the formal programme kicked off around noon with the national anthem and prayers.
A praise singer told the crowd he needed to exorcise the spirit of Dutch coloniser Jan van Riebeeck before the rally could get underway.
“I have to clear the spirit of Jan van Riebeeck from this place first.”
On Friday night, at an ANC fundraiser, Zuma had revisited the country's colonial history, telling some of the country's wealthiest “all the trouble began” in 1652 when Van Riebeeck landed in the Cape.
He went on to say the African National Congress had a superior claim to power to other political parties because it was formed by a united front of the country's indigenous people to vanquish white colonial rule. - Sapa