SOUTH Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma put on a show of strength in the historic township of Soweto as he campaigned for votes in the build-up to the 29 May general election.
Zulu warriors marched around Orlando Stadium with their spears and shields, men in camouflage sang and danced to revolutionary songs, while some of South Africa’s famous singers – including rapper Big Zulu – provided entertainment to the near capacity crowd at Saturday’s rally.
For Mr Zuma’s supporters a major coup was the presence of the man known as a disco king, Papa Penny.
Having announced his resignation from the governing African National Congress (ANC) last week, he has now joined the former president’s new party, uMkhonto weSizwe, which translates as Spear of the Nation.
“Unite Africa. Unite South Africa,” he said in a short address to the crowd, adding: “Phansi [Down with] tribalism.”
Mr Zuma’s supporters saw Papa Penny’s presence – he hails from the small Tsonga community – as significant as it challenged perceptions that the former president’s support only comes from his Zulu ethnic group, the biggest in South Africa.
But the star attraction at the rally was none other than the 82-year-old former president.
The crowd burst into chants of “Zuma, Zuma” as he walked into the stadium, while his increasingly influential daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, knelt in front of him and hugged him before he took his seat on the stage.
She serves on what is called the “national core” of the party, recently telling The Shady PHodcast: “My father is obviously the head, and I’m the neck.”
Mr Zuma’s decision to hold his biggest campaign rally in Soweto was significant because it is a stronghold of the ANC in South Africa’s economic heartland of Gauteng.
Soweto also has deep political symbolism as it was at the forefront of the struggle against the racist system of apartheid, which ended with the ANC’s rise to power in 1994.
But now, 30 years later, the ANC risks losing its outright majority as it faces a threat from Zuma’s breakaway party, as well as other opposition parties.
With this in mind, ANC leader and President Cyril Ramaphosa has been hard on the campaign trail in Mr Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Addressing voters on Saturday in Mandeni town, about 100km (62 miles) from the coastal city of Durban, Mr Ramaphosa said creating jobs was his priority, warning “small parties” like MK – the acronym by which Mr Zuma’s party is known – that they were looking down on the ANC at their peril.
“These small parties, the MK-what-what don’t really know us. They only know about us from the media. They will know us on 29 May,” he was quoted as saying by the News24 website.
