Former ANC secretary general Ace Magashule yesterday urged supporters during his party manifesto launch to vote “magodu” (thieves) out of power during the general election on May 29.
The leader of the African Congress for Transformation (ACT) also told his supporters to vote for the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, in the provinces where his party is not on the ballot paper.
“Prophets of doom have been spreading propaganda that we wouldn’t be contesting elections as we aren’t in the ballot papers; that’s a pure lie; we are in the ballot papers for national and some provinces.
“In provinces like KwaZulu-Natal where we are not on the provincial ballot paper, please vote for the MK Party. Vote those thieves who are calling us thieves out of power and restore your dignity,” Magashule said.
Magashule broke into his signature song Mthengisi (Sell out) and was joined by religious leaders, traditional leaders, and thousands of people who filled Pastor Musa Zondo’s Rivers of Living Waters Ministries in Sedibeng, Evaton, south of Johannesburg, in their thousands.
Ironically, Zondo is a member of the MK Party and allowed his church to be used as a manifesto launch for a rival political party.
Magashule told Sunday World that it was just a business transaction. “We were looking for a place around which we could launch our manifesto, but we couldn’t find any but Bishop Zondo rented out his church to us. We didn’t get it for free. He was also worried about what MK members were going to say, but in the end, we agreed that it was a business transaction and no favours,” he said.
During the manifesto launch, Magashule said the governing party, the ANC, has failed to make a difference in the lives of ordinary South Africans. “Our people still live in squalor, subjected to poverty, 30 years into our democratic dispensation. Our people are homeless, rootless, jobless and landless.
“Freedom fighters of yesteryear aren’t going to make your lives better because they are directors of multinationals and they only care about themselves and their families, and they only need your vote while they continue living large,” he added.
He promised that his party would make education the priority and return the land to its original people.
“There is no Tintswalo, there are people who have given up hope because they couldn’t find a job since 1994. Let’s make 2024 a year of hope and dignity.
“We must return the land to its people because, without land, we don’t have our wealth and dignity. We want to nationalise the South African Reserve Bank so we can create wealth for us people and stop the privatisation of state-owned enterprises.”
Magashule promised his supporters that if they vote in numbers, they can reclaim Free State province from the ANC and turn the tide around.
“Several councillors are going to resign from the Free State provincial government within the next few weeks and join ACT. We are going to reclaim the Free State,” he said.
He quoted the late South African Communist Party leader, Chris Hani, who said, “What I fear is that the liberators emerge as elitists, who drive around in Mercedes Benzes and use the resources of this country to live in palaces and gather riches.”
Before leaving the stage, Magashule broke into a new song, Siyaya ePitoli (We are going to Pretoria), and promised his supporters that with their vote, his party could go to Pretoria and be part of the new government after the May 29 elections.
