Zuma says ANC comrades have stabbed him in the back

President Jacob Zuma has accused some of his fellow comrades in the ruling ANC of stabbing him in the back with a spear.

He told a crowd of mainly pensioners at his 75th birthday celebration in Kliptown that he had lost trust in many of the ANC leaders he’d worked with.

“In all the many years that I had been a member of the ANC, I had seen a lot and I had heard a lot. But I have learnt to trust a stone rather than another human being,” Zuma said.

He said a stone was more trustworthy because if you left it in one place, you would find it in the same place years later.

He did not name the comrades he no longer trusts, but it became clear he was referring to his fellow national executive committee (NEC) members and alliance leaders.

His fellow national working committee members recently criticised his controversial Cabinet reshuffle while Cosatu and SACP leaders demanded his resignation.

“I have seen heroes come and go; I have seen heroes turning into wimps and into enemies in my political life. I have seen comrades who stab you in the back with a spear, but they don’t know that we are used to being called names, we dont stress,” Zuma said.

He also criticised the opposition parties for the march earlier in the day to the Union Buildings, saying their criticism against him was aimed at the ANC as a government.

“They attack me, but in reality they are attacking the ANC because it is in power and they want that power. When you kill a snake you hit it on the head and that is exactly what they are doing. They target me because I am the head of the ANC,” said Zuma.

He lashed out at the parties for taking parliamentary debates to the courts and resorting to the courts.

“If I sneeze they run to the court to lay a charge. If I cough it will make headlines to say Zuma must go because he coughed in front of the people. That is what opposition parties do,” he said.

The president said the land should return to black people or they would remain poor forever.

He said he would never stop campaigning for land to be restored to blacks because it was vital for their economic survival.

As the land was taken by force and laws were passed to give it to whites, the ANC would use legal ways to get it back and return it to blacks, he said.

– ericn@citizen.co.za