SA still needs Zuma – Magashule

Former president Jacob Zuma was in Lamontville, Durban, on Friday to campaign for the African National Congress (ANC) alongside the party’s secretary-general Ace Magashule and ANC Youth League secretary-general Njabulo Nzuza.

Magashule addressed supporters following the handing over of a house, praising Zuma and telling those in attendance that the country still needed him.

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The ANC secretary-general, who has found himself surrounded by controversy following the release of investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s Gangster State: Unravelling Ace Magashule’s Web of Capture, which accuses him of corruption and gangsterism, introduced Zuma as an ANC member “in good standing” before leading the crowd in chants of “long live president Zuma, long live president Ramaphosa”.

Mashashule addressed Zuma as “president” and said what he had done for the country was “wonderful”.

He said that while media reports had suggested that the former president had not been actively campaigning for the ANC, this was not the case.

Magashule may be referring to a story published by IOL which reported that the ANC secretary-general was forced to “fly solo” while door-to-door campaigning in KwaZulu-Natal after Zuma, who was meant to join him, didn’t show up.

READ MORE: Ramaphosa rubbishes Magashule’s phone-tapping claims

This was because the former president was in Gauteng, Magashule told the crowd.

Asked about the alleged tapping of his phone, Magashule said he had reported the matter to the inspector-general of Intelligence Setlhomamaru Dintwe, adding that he did not want to discuss it further.

It was reported on Saturday that Magashule had told a crowd of ANC supporters in the North West that he believed his and deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte’s phones had been tapped, which he alleged was evidence that “state organs” were being used to fight political battles.

Magashule added that many other comrades had complained about the same thing and he had advised them to speak out.

In a rare television interview on the newly launched Newzroom Afrika on Thursday night, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa rubbished Magashule’s claims.

“I also suspected that my phone was bugged, there is no phone that is bugged,” said Ramaphosa.

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)