Zuma 'persecuted like Christ'
2008-11-30 22:46
Bloemfontein - African National Congress president Jacob Zuma is being subjected to the same persecution as Christ, according to Ace Magashule, the ANC's Free State chairperson.
"Jesus was persecuted. He was called names and betrayed. It's the same kind of suffering Mr Zuma has had to bear recently, but he's still standing strong. He's not giving up," Magashule told Volksblad on Sunday.
He also explained a similar comparison he made on Friday while addressing a crowd of Zuma supporters, as Zuma was attending the appeal hearing of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
The NPA is appealing the judgment made by Judge Chris Nicholson earlier this year in Zuma's corruption case.
It's not the first time that a prominent member of the ANC has drawn a comparison between Zuma or the ANC and the Bible.
'I never said Zuma was Jesus'
In his speech on Friday - which was mostly delivered in Sotho - Magashule said that although Zuma had been subjected to all kinds of persecution, he had never left the ANC.
Magashule said he didn't believe anyone would be uncomfortable with the parallels he was drawing between Zuma and Jesus.
"Why would it make people uncomfortable? I'm a Christian too. There's absolutely nothing wrong with comparisons of this nature.
"I never said Zuma was Jesus. He can't be Jesus. I merely compared the kind of persecution that had to be endured."
Magashule said he had also used the comparison to refer to people who had left the ANC.
"Jesus had up to 70 disciples, but in the end only 12 remained.
"People are slandering Zuma. What do they want from him? He has long ago apologised and asked for forgiveness for what he has done wrong."
Magashule was referring, among other things, to the fact that Zuma had publicly apologised - after being found not guilty on a rape charge - to having had unprotected sex.
Moral high ground
Prof André Duvenhage, a political scientist at North West University, said statements of this kind were aimed at placing Zuma on a moral high ground by linking him to a figure who had a high moral status.
"By doing this, his close supporters want to legitimise his struggle. It's a skewed comparison. Jesus was never a political figure.
"It has also been said the ANC will govern until Jesus returns. But in my opinion Zuma still has quite a few challenges to face and it's not a foregone conclusion at all that Zuma will become president in 2009."
Prof Hermie van Zyl, lecturer in New Testament at Free State University, said the statement that Jesus had 70 disciples that were reduced to 12 is not correct.
"In the Gospel according to Luke it says that Jesus had a wider circle of followers, but nowhere is it said that they were reduced to 12.
"The term 'disciple' is in fact reserved for the 12 that were with him all the time.
"Even those 12 deserted him on the Night of Betrayal, so in the end even they weren't there anymore," Van Zyl said.