WATCH | Vote for ANC, Jacob Zuma urges supporters as he speaks for the first time

Cape Town – Former president Jacob Zuma has urged his supporters to vote for the African National Congress (ANC), as he spoke publicly for the first time since he was granted medical parole in September.

In a recorded video shared on social media by the Jacob Zuma Foundation on Tuesday, Zuma urged South Africans to cast their votes in the upcoming local government elections.

Speaking in isiZulu, Zuma said that boycotting the elections would not solve anything.

“The time to vote for our local governments has come. I’ve been picking up that a lot of people are saying they won’t vote due to certain reasons.

“That has left me troubled at heart. I plead with those who are reluctant to go and vote. This is important….. If we don’t vote we will wake up one day and realise we have no voice and power to change our people’s lives,” said Zuma.

According to IOL, Zuma’s plea came as reports emerged that the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal was scrambling to get Zuma on board to help with the election campaign, which was struggling to get off the ground.

A “welcome prayer” has been planned for Zuma in KwaZulu-Natal on October 14, following his recent release from hospital.

ALSO READ | ‘Rallies, prayers planned’ as relatives and supporters eagerly await Jacob Zuma’s return to Nkandla after his release on medical parole

“The foundation will host a welcome prayer for [former] president Zuma in KwaZulu-Natal. Faith-based, religious organisations and non-governmental organisations, including all political parties, are invited. Covid-19 protocols will apply. Finer details will be announced,” the foundation tweeted last week.

Zuma was in August admitted to a hospital outside the Estcourt Correctional Centre where he had been incarcerated for 15 months for ignoring a court order to testify before a judicial panel probing corruption during his nine-year tenure which lasted until 2018.

Zuma was granted medical parole by the department of correctional services in September, and would, therefore, complete the rest of his sentence in a “system of community corrections”.

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Compiled by Betha Madhomu

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