The talk of violence in KwaZulu-Natal would cease if the African National Congress took the province in the upcoming general election, President Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday.
He told the community of Mafunze, near Pietermaritzburg, they should vote for the ANC to free themselves of people who ”intimidate them with spears”.
Mbeki was in Mafunze campaigning for the ANC to win the April 14 election.
He told scores of people on a mountain top in the Inkatha Freedom Party-stronghold they should ignore people who may intimidate them in the run-up to the election. Their ballot was a secret and they should vote for a party which brought them economic freedom.
Earlier in the day, Mbeki was turned away by a chief in a bid to avoid possible tension between supporters of the ANC and IFP.
Mbeki was on his way to pay his respects to Chief Ngcobo in the area when he was asked not to visit the chief by one of his aides.
The president told reporters the chief was happy he was in the area to talk to members of the community. However, he did not want to be seen supporting the ANC in the IFP-stronghold.
Mbeki said he respected the chief’s request and went on to address a crowd of ANC supporters.
Members of the community reported that some of them had been beaten by IFP members earlier in the day. Police questioned by reporters on the matter did not want to speak on the record.
A Sapa reporter, however, could see police barricades about a kilometre down a road, keeping IFP supporters away from the gathering being addressed by the president.
Mbeki told the crowd they should rectify their mistake of voting for the IFP in the 1999 election, by opting for the ANC this time.
Ahead of the 1994 elections, around 20 000 people were killed in political violence, especially between the ANC and IFP. This year the reports of violence in the province have been minimal.
Mbeki heard unemployment and poverty were the greatest concerns facing communities in the area.
”My husband was stabbed to death as well as my son. I am looking after my children and none of us have jobs,” Doreen Sosibo (57) told Mbeki in Zulu.
In Imbala he heard there were many households being looked after by elderly women without any work. Primrose Ntombela said her brother, who was the breadwinner of her family, was shot dead in February.
”I have a big problem. My mother is very sick and none of us in my house have jobs. I want the government to give us jobs and increase (social) grants,” she said.
Mbeki, dressed in a yellow ANC golf shirt and black pants, spent the day visiting people mostly in their four-roomed houses, discussing issues they wanted to be tackled by the government.
He also addressed gatherings where people ululated and chanted ”ANC ANC” most of the time.
Mbeki delighted onlookers in Imbala by picking up four-year-old Nosipha Nthembu who simply stared at him. In Edendale, not far from Imbala, a group of local creche children expressed their adoration in a song.
The smiling president sat on a child’s blue plastic chair while the group of about 20 children aged between three and six sang in Zulu: ”There is no one like Mbeki, we love you Mbeki, we love you. I love my country.”
On Friday the president is expected to spend the day in Chatsworth, Durban’s Indian area, and will address students at Mangosuthu Technikon in Umlazi. – Sapa