Former president Jacob Zuma’s MK Party filled the Orlando Stadium yesterday in a clear show of force and to send a message that it is not just a regional party of KwaZulu-Natal.
Zuma told thousands of MK Party supporters that his party is capable of not only winning the May 29 election but of doing so with a two-thirds majority. No party has achieved this since the ANC won 69.7% in 2004.
Zuma, presenting his party’s manifesto, said that with a two-thirds majority — required for making amendments to the constitution — he would give more power to traditional leaders. “We are putting the chiefs in front because they are the true owners of the land,” he said.
Zuma, who was president between 2009 and 2018, said a two-thirds majority was also the only way to give land back to black people.
However, his party has performed dismally in by-elections, especially outside his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. In a recent by-election in Madibeng, North West, the party received a mere 1.4%.
Zuma denounced the moral degeneracy he said prevailed in South Africa, especially among the youth. He cited teenage pregnancies, excessive alcohol consumption and crime, among other issues.
“This thing that there are kids who drink alcohol day and night... with no money and end up robbing people just so they can drink — we will end all of that,” he said.
“We will do this because we are building a new South Africa with proper people who are respectable and happy. We will do of all of this, which is why we need to win with a landslide majority. Because if we don’t get two-thirds, there will be people who will oppose us so that we are not able to achieve all of this,” he said.
“This is why I’m saying, those who don’t want or are scared to support uMkhonto weSizwe publicly, they just enter into that ballot [station] and vote for uMkhonto weSizwe and keep quiet.”
Zuma maintained that his decision to lead the MK Party was motivated by a desire to try to fix the ANC from the outside. He said the ANC was now being led by crooks who had to be pushed out.
After its first year of existence — it was launched on December 16 — the MK Party would be able to analyse whether it had achieved its goals with the ANC. “I also believe that after we have confirmed that the real ANC was back, all of us would go back to vote for it,” he said.
The rally, which the organisers say was attended by 38,000 people, was poorly organised — Zuma started speaking over three hours after the set starting time.
When Zuma got onto the stage, throngs of people filled it, causing a ruckus that almost ended in a fist fight as they tried to get close to Zuma.
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