President Jacob Zuma and African National Congress (ANC) Youth League president Julius Malema are creating racial divisions in South Africa, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille said on Monday.
“Both President Zuma and Julius Malema did their best to divide South Africans on the basis of race,” she said at the Bara Taxi Rank in Soweto, Johannesburg.
“The ANC made it quite clear: if you want racial division and failed service delivery you should vote for them.”
Zille was referring to comments by the pair at the ANC’s final election rally at the FNB Stadium on Sunday.
“They trampled on [former president] Nelson Mandela’s vision of building one rainbow nation with one shared future.
“The ANC rally showed us all that the ANC has finally abandoned the values of Nelson Mandela.”
At the rally, Malema labelled Zille a “madam” who “moves around doing a monkey dance looking for votes”.
“We are going to take Cape Town from the madam, we are going to take Midvaal from the madam,” he said. “Even the madam knows. As long as we are still alive, the freedom will be defended.”
At the rally, Zuma said that white municipalities received well-developed services and infrastructure, while apartheid created underdeveloped townships and rural areas were deliberately deprived of resources.
In a last-minute attempt to woo black voters on Monday, Zille told Soweto residents the DA had a lot to offer them.
“If you want a growing economy, real opportunities, improved service delivery, redress and reconciliation, the DA is the logical choice.
“There is not much you can do about Chiefs’ and Pirates’ performances this season, but there is something you can do about your government’s.”
‘Blind loyalty is a bad thing’
She said a party that had failed them once would continue to fail them.
“That is why blind loyalty to a political party in a democracy is a bad thing. It allows corruption to flourish.
“It allows governments to get away with poor service delivery. It allows political parties to forget about the people and enrich themselves.”
She asked residents to think about their vote wisely.
“Don’t just give it away to the same party for old time’s sake. Think about the future.”
She said South Africans were being neglected because the politicians in power believed their loyal voters would stick with them.
“If we don’t break this cycle, we will never get anywhere.
“We are asking you to lend us your vote so that we can prove what we can do in government here.”
She told voters that if they did not see a difference after five years, they could take their votes elsewhere in the next election.
She said South African would not be the same again after Wednesday when more than 23-million voters go to the polls in the country’s fourth democratic municipal elections.
“The result in three metros hangs in the balance.” — Sapa
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