JOHANNESBURG – Former South African President Jacob Zuma lamented high levels of poverty amongst black South Africans on Saturday and vowed to create jobs and fight crime as he unveiled his recent political party's manifesto ahead of the country's highly anticipated elections.
He told 1000’s of supporters gathered at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg that his party would construct factories that will employ large numbers of individuals and supply free education to the country's youth.
“We want our children to learn for free, especially those from poor households, because the poverty we have is not our cause. It was created by settlers who took everything, including our land. We will take all these things back, make money and give our children an education,” he said.
He has also pledged to amend the country's structure to offer more powers back to traditional leaders, saying their role in society has been diminished by giving more powers to judges and civil servants.
Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe party, referred to as the MK Party, has emerged as a serious player in South Africa's upcoming elections after its formation in December last 12 months.
He is currently involved in a single Legal dispute with the country's electoral authority, the Independent Electoral Commission. He has appealed against a court ruling which prevented him from collaborating within the election as a consequence of his criminal record.
Zuma was sentenced to fifteen months in prison for defying a court order to seem before a judicial commission of inquiry investigating allegations of corruption in state-owned and state-owned corporations during his term as president from 2009 to 2018.
In 2018 he was Forced to resign He was appointed president of the country after widespread corruption allegations, but he has returned politically and is now searching for to develop into the country's president again.
“When they talk about unemployment, they talk about us, there is no one else. When they talk about people who go away in shacks, that is us, then there is no one other than us who lives in shacks,” Zuma told his supporters, many of whom had traveled from other provinces such as Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, where he still enjoys it and has significant support.
According to the former president, black poverty is the reason for South Africa's high crime rate.
“Our hunger and our poverty create the impression that we are criminals, that we have no brains, that we have nothing. That time is over because we are good people who give, but some people push us into crime,” he said.
Recent polls and analysts suggest the ruling African National Congress could get lower than 50% of the vote and would want to form a coalition with smaller parties to remain in power.
South Africans will go to the polls on May twenty ninth.
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