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On Monday evening President Jacob Zuma gave a rare and exclusive media interview to news channel ANN7. Here are some of the top quotes from that interview.
"It is a reality. I was poisoned. Some people wanted me dead and indeed it was quite a strong poison and I did go through quite a challenging time."
"... people who are saying Zuma is the enemy is an old matter and I think I know exactly who the people are who are saying so but that's part of what the struggle is. You don't just end up with freedom when you have the vote. The struggle continues."
"... if you grow the economy then you become stronger and you can resist many other things. So they would want you to be weaker all the time. I would imagine as the ANC I share the ANC views that I've been with all the time, and I've defended those and I will never give in.
On white monopoly capital
"It's not a manufactured story. We are not mad. We are telling the truth."
"You will find the same companies in charge. That means they are dominating. That means they are monopolising the economy … And they are not black… It is a fact. I don't know why shouldn't they be called by what they practice. And I don't know why there's a debate, in fact, because there is a monopoly and in South Africa it is white."
On radical economic transformation
"Radical socio-economic transformation is a policy of the ANC. As a leader of the ANC you have to implement the policy. When I talk about radical socio-economic transformation it's not my thing, it's an ANC policy."
On state capture
"There's no Parliament that's captured, there's no executive that's captured. There's only individuals. But they're always talking about state capture. That's political propaganda."
"When I established the commission of inquiry, one of the things they will have to clarify is, what is state capture? I'm sure I'd be very keen to know. Is that phrase correct?"
On the Guptas
"I'm sure the judicial commission of inquiry … it's one of the issues it will have to clarify, to say it was all fake, political, just painting black a particular family and a particular few individuals."
"I think there was a political reason that this [State of Capture] report was supposed to be used to deal with a number of other people."
"I have fought corruption. I think I've signed the SIU proclamations. The number that I've signed … nobody has ever signed so much – fighting corruption. But it is said I am more corrupt than anyone."
About the alliance
"There are forces who actually want to see the ANC and the alliance weakened. And to weaken that you must utilise people from within. Because it would be very sad, that people who are part of the organisation, because they reach a point where their candidate does not win, something which is a routine in democracy, you then want to leave the organisation. It is funny. It says a lot about you as an individual."
On Cyril Ramaphosa announcing his slate
"I would imagine that was a political statement campaign of the deputy president. I wouldn't want to comment on that one. We are all agreed that we don't want factions. We are all saying we need to unite."
On the EFF
"People are not blind. They're not going to vote for you because you are able to raise your voice more than any other people."
