Home » President Zuma Speaks Out on Nationwide Marches and Land Reform

President Zuma Speaks Out on Nationwide Marches and Land Reform

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma revealed during his birthday speech on Wednesday that he would resign “tomorrow” if the ANC members asked him to, and called on his supporters to not be confused by the opposition. The President’s 75th birthday celebrations in Kliptown, Soweto, were bittersweet… marred by marches by tens of thousands of South Africans calling […]

By SAPeople
13-04-17 12:12
in Eish!

South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma revealed during his birthday speech on Wednesday that he would resign “tomorrow” if the ANC members asked him to, and called on his supporters to not be confused by the opposition.

The President’s 75th birthday celebrations in Kliptown, Soweto, were bittersweet… marred by marches by tens of thousands of South Africans calling for him to step down; as well as by the passing of teenager Ontlametse Phalatse who suffered from Progeria, a rare genetic disorder that speeds up ageing.

Concerning the current marches and widespread antagonism towards him, Zuma said there are only a few months left until his role as President ends (when the ANC National Executive Committee elects a new leader in December)… but warned that “in January the new President will be attacked”, just like past presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki had been criticised too.

He said: “They called it, National Day of Action calling for Zuma to go, oh how difficult it is to be the opposition!”

The ANC leader called on supporters to not be confused by the opposition. He claimed “they do not attack a person, they attack the ANC, do not pay attention to them.” As with a snake, he said, they hit the head.

Zuma said: “I want to tell you that even if you said tomorrow I should step down from these positions, I would do so with a clean heart” and added that “I will be a member of the ANC until I die.”

Zuma said being a member of the ANC is a “blessing” and he would spend the rest of his life working “very hard” for the party, and “won’t demand a salary”. (He was also extremely “grateful” for the birthday party, the first the ANC had ever organised for him.)

The President said he’s learnt much in his 75 years about people that come and go and friends that stab you in the back, and about how it’s better to “trust a rock” than a person.

Zuma said being called names doesn’t hurt because “we are used to being called names” and that “those that are calling me names maybe they have white people problems like stress, I do not have stress.”

He told his supporters to not be “afraid” with regards to the opposition marches, and said “in reality they are just doing their job” which is to criticise. He said it is part of democracy.

Regarding the issue of land, Zuma pointed out that the ANC want to reclaim land through legal means unlike “a party in parly [the EFF] that wants to grab the land”.

He also said: “We don’t want to take all the land, we just want us to share so that generations to come do not suffer.”

Zuma cautioned that, as he said at the State of the Nation Address, radical economic transformation is required urgently in South Africa or black people will suffer forever.

He ended his speech with a moment’s silence for Ontlametse. The President had met her for her 18th birthday a couple of weeks ago, fulfilling her long held wish. Zuma said he was heartbroken and will make her other dreams come true – the family was given a new car yesterday, and he will help them build a new house.

“She was so happy to be invited to my birthday, she was going to speak today,” he said.

In his birthday video below Zuma says: “I hope that finally, that South Africa will be a non-racial country… and it will be a beautiful rainbow nation.”

https://twitter.com/Ashanti_Mthuthu/status/852379843723505664

President Zuma’s 75th birthday speech

President Zuma looks back on his life, his time in prison and exile, and says it is good to look back and reflect, and that even criticism today is just recognition that he exists. He says he’s learnt from mistakes. He says he was a poor young man, who never went to school… but who has worked very hard to get where he is. He also discusses the economy and the need for radical economic transformation.