Publications
Partners
Port Elizabeth – An angry Democratic Alliance leader, Mmusi Maimane, has lashed out at President Jacob Zuma for some of his campaign messages.
Speaking a mere three kilometres away from where the ANC held its Siyanqoba Rally on Saturday, Maimane addressed thousands of DA supporters in Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth, during the party’s 'We can win' rally on Sunday.
On Saturday, Zuma called the DA an offspring of the apartheid era National Party, and said the party was too focused on the ANC and corruption, Nkandla and the president.
He [Zuma] likened Maimane to an “artificial” leader who was not listened to by white members of the party and also said the DA did not have any heroes, which was why they had used former Nelson Mandela in their campaigns.
An irate Maimane compared Zuma to Hendrik Verwoed.
In love with apartheid
“Jacob Zuma thinks that black people are not clever. He is no different to what [Hendrik] Verwoed thought about black people. Jacob Zuma does not believe that it is possible for black people to lead white people. In fact, he does not believe that black people and white people can come together,” he said at the Nelson Mandela Bay’s Missionvale Campus.
He said Zuma was the only person who "missed apartheid".
“He seems to be so in love with apartheid. Jacob Zuma still believes in separate development. In his world, black people must be on this side, and white people on another.”
Maimane said the president relied on apartheid to advance the ANC, a party built on non-racialism.
“I am angry today, on Sunday. The things he said, lies. We will show Zuma he is the one who is not clever when we vote for change,” he said.
Zuma’s mind was the one that was oppressed, Maimane said.
ANC corrupted
“We are not here to bring a black government or a white government. We are here to bring a DA government and it is not against any race but a government for all South Africans.”
Maimane dedicated some of this speech to slamming the ANC for “corrupting” and Zuma for the money spent on his Nkandla homestead.
Zuma on Saturday said the DA was the same as the National Party.
“When a snake, a poisonous one, gives birth, it gives birth to another snake. How can you vote for people who don’t know you and who you don’t know?” Zuma asked.
He likened the DA's mayoral candidate for the area, Athol Trollip, to a snake.
Maimane reiterated on Sunday that the ANC had given birth to corruption and corrupt mayors, making an example of Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Danny Jordaan and the Fifa allegations of bribery.
Trollip said they knew who the real snakes were, and it was not them [the DA].
- Find everything you need to know about the 2016 Local Government Elections at our News24 Elections site, including the latest news and detailed, interactive maps for how South Africa has voted over the past 3 elections, or download the app for iOS and Android.
