African National Congress (ANC) deputy president Jacob Zuma has criticised the media for calling people who walked out during President Thabo Mbeki’s address at a funeral ”Zuma supporters”.
”They are not Zuma supporters,” he said on Wednesday about those who walked out of the funeral of struggle hero Moses Mabhida. ”They are members of the ANC. I told them to stop.”
He said the media are ”abusing” his name. ”The media had no right to call them Zuma supporters.”
Zuma was speaking in KwaXimba on the outskirts of Durban at a ceremony organised in his honour by the local branch of the ANC.
On December 2, at the final funeral for ANC stalwart Mabhida, hundreds of mourners walked out when Mbeki began speaking.
The Sunday Times reported at the time that some had ”heckled” the president while others blew vuvuzelas.
Zuma himself had tried to calm the situation during the funeral, but to no avail.
Asked if Wednesday’s events were the start of a presidential campaign trail, he replied: ”There is no campaigning in the ANC. You don’t run for a position. They [the ANC structures] just don’t nominate you.
”This is a Christmas celebration and I have been invited to join in. Nothing else.”
He accused the media of being at fault for linking the presidency with his corruption trial.
A poll in December showed that Mbeki’s approval rating had dropped to its lowest level in four years following a series of scandals involving the ANC. The poll, by the Johannesburg-based Research Surveys, showed that Mbeki had a 53% approval rating, 8% down on the figure recorded six months before.
Mbeki, who is due to stand down as head of the ANC next year and president of the country in 2009, had presided over a series of embarrassing incidents last year, during which the party’s chief whip was expelled for sexual harassment and a string of lawmakers was convicted of or admitted to fiddling their expenses.
Research Surveys director Neil Higgs said Mbeki’s support had also tailed off as a result of the government’s failure to fight rampant crime. — Sapa, Sapa-AFP