/ 7 February 2011

ANC defends Zuma’s campaign comments

Anc Defends Zuma's Campaign Comments

President Jacob Zuma’s comments about heaven and hell during voter registration in the Eastern Cape were not blasphemous and were not meant to intimidate voters, the ANC said on Sunday.

“The figurative weekend expression by the president remains figurative and metaphoric,” party spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

Speaking in isiZulu, Zuma said if a South African voted for the ANC, one chose heaven, but a vote for the opposition meant hell.

He was addressing people in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape as part of the ANC’s registration drive ahead of the 2011 local government elections.

“We are, therefore, in agreement with the president that not voting for the ANC is tantamount to throwing your vote in burning hell,” he said.

“When you vote for the ANC, you are also choosing to go to heaven. When you don’t vote for the ANC you should know that you are choosing that man who carries a fork … who cooks people,” Zuma said.

He also equated the ANC’s track record, history and policies to the goodness of heaven.

The DA on Sunday said that ordinary South Africans would find Zuma’s comments offensive and unacceptable.

“His words are incendiary and dangerous, in that they seek to mobilise along religious lines, and sow seeds of division in our communities.

“Indeed, this is an act of shameless political and religious blackmail — the sort of political skulduggery that may be the norm in autocracies, but that should be anathema to our constitutional democracy.

“Mr Zuma should apologise unreservedly for these remarks.”

Mthembu said that South Africans, both black and white, fully understood the use of Zuma’s figurative expressions and the context in which it was used.

“Those who are ‘alarmed’ by his expression are probably driven by jealousy for not having thought of the expression themselves,” Mthembu said.

‘Laughing stock of the nation’
African Christian Democratic Party president Kenneth Meshoe said Zuma’s comments were a disgrace.

Meshoe said no angels would be wearing ANC colours and Zuma’s statement was simply blasphemous.

“I am shocked to hear that the South African president would make such a ludicrous statement. It is not only shocking but it is disappointing to hear the head of state that should be an example of integrity choosing to be the laughing stock of the nation by being deceptive.

“This is nothing but deceptive. Nobody can access heaven because of their membership of a political party. For him to suggest that the angels in heaven are also wearing the colours of the ANC, that is nothing but blasphemy.

“All the Christians in the ANC should write a petition to their president and also ask the president to apologise for such shocking blasphemy … angels are not political beings,” he told the broadcaster.

In 2004, Zuma also raised the ire of the opposition when he told a crowd that “the ANC will rule South Africa until Jesus comes back”. – Sapa and Staff reporter