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Jacob Zuma

Durban — The party faithful turned out in droves as President Jacob Zuma toured several areas of greater Durban on Wednesday where he campaigned for the ANC ahead of the May 7 elections.Zuma did door-to-door campaigns near Hammarsdale and toured the Hammarsdale Junction Mall before addressing about 5,000 people in Mariannridge and finally addressing a large number of people in a church in the city’s Austerville area.

In Mariannridge his fans and African National Congress supporters waited for more than two hours before he arrived. Pensioners who were out in the sun were moved into the marquee tent that had been set up for the VIPs.

In Austerville Zuma said that there was no choice, but to vote for the ANC as none of the other parties had ever been in government.

“I don’t know how trustworthy they are, that’s why I can’t vote for them. They promise us, all of us everything. They know as they ask for votes they are not going to win,” he said.

He said that many had left the ANC, but that nothing had come of them.

“It’s cold outside the ANC,” Zuma said to loud cheers.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance said KwaZulu-Natal Agriculture MEC Meshack Radebe must apologise for telling people not to use social grants if they do not vote for the ANC.

“The DA demands a formal public apology from the [Jacob] Zuma ANC, and MEC Radebe,” DA provincial leader Sizwe Mchunu said in a statement. “Radebe must apologise for his statements and retract them.”

The Star reported on Wednesday that Radebe said those who received social welfare grants but voted for opposition political parties were stealing from government.

“Nxamalala [President Jacob Zuma] has increased grants, but there are people who are stealing them by voting for opposition parties,” he was quoted as saying.

Radebe, who was previously the province’s social development MEC, warned those who wanted to vote for other parties to “stay away from the grant”.

His comments were made in Greytown on Tuesday in Zuma’s presence. Mchunu told the newspaper the comments were “insulting and misleading”.

“The money for social grants comes from the taxes that people pay. This is purely ANC propaganda,” he was quoted as saying.
Mchunu on Wednesday said social grants were a government service, and not a party-political patronage system.

“A DA government would also implement social grants. The government also has no right to deny anyone social grants, no matter who they vote for.”

He said the ANC was purposefully spreading misinformation about how government worked, how social grants worked, how elections worked and what the DA’s stance was on social grants to get people to vote ANC out of fear. — Sapa