POLITICAL parties left nothing to chance over the Easter weekend as they tried their best to reach out to potential voters.
National Freedom Party leader Zanele Magwaza-Msibi spent the weekend campaigning in parts of the Eastern Cape. “As I indicated, before May 7 I will have crisscrossed every province of our country to campaign for the NFP as we will be participating for the first time in the national and provincial legislatures’ elections,” she said. “I am humbled by the support I receive wherever I go and I am confident that the NFP will do well in these elections.”
President Jacob Zuma attended an Easter church service at the Mariamman Temple in Mount Edgecombe. In his address, Zuma said the country was a much better place to live in now than it was before 1994. “For that we are thankful to millions of South Africans for working with the ANC and its government, to bring about the change and transformation we see today.”
Zuma said the Indian people, just like the Coloured people, have always been part of the oppressed black majority. “Therefore, the Indian community has never been mere auxiliaries in the struggle for freedom as may be suggested by some whose sole intention is to divide the black majority for political expediency.”
He also said the ANC was the only movement with the necessary commitment, experience and capacity to resolve this issue in the interest of black people.
“All our policies are informed by our correct appreciation of the racialised history of our country. This is contrary to those who speak about an open society and equal opportunities without first addressing the damaging effects of more than 300 years of deliberate economic exclusion of black people.”
Zuma said whites should never feel excluded in building a non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous and democratic South Africa.
“Working together for the past 20 years, we have managed to educate all our people to value diversity rather than see it as a source of division.”
ANC chairperson Senzo Mchunu addressed an inter-cultural festival in Chatsworth on Saturday. Mchunu, along with other ANC leaders, also attended church services in various religious denominations during the weekend.
Meanwhile, DA provincial deputy chairperson Zwakele Mncwango conducted a door-to-door campaign in Ulundi and then welcomed more than 20 members from NFP. “Voters in Zululand have tried to change their vote between NFP and IFP hoping to get change in service delivery but still no hope. DA is the only party that can bring about real change,” the party said in a statement.
