The national leader of the ANC has told thousands of supporters that Russia, China and other Eastern socialist countries assisted the ANC to defeat Apartheid and not the Western countries.
President Jacob Zuma was speaking as part of the ANC’s cadre forum programme at a Sibongile rally in Acornhoek, Bushbuckridge.
“The ANC sent our beloved leader, President Oliver Tambo to go ask for assistance from the Western countries for us to go to train militarily in order to be able to fight Apartheid and they refused to assist us because they were allies of those who were in charge of the Apartheid regime.
“Tambo then went to the socialist countries in the East and they assisted us; amongst these countries was Russia, which was the Soviet Union during those days, and China and other socialist countries that were there for us during that time.
“The countries that claim to love us today were supporting Apartheid,” Zuma said.
WATCH HERE: Zuma slams West, says China, Russia assisted ANC
He said it was strange that any normal functioning person would ditch those who assisted him during the struggle.
“Today they want to destroy the ANC because we have joined the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China),” Zuma said.
He urged supporters to not listen to those who were spokespersons of Western countries, “believing in the lies they are spreading”.
“Some of them are in ANC clothes but they are something else,” Zuma warned.
He said the purpose of attacking the ANC was to reduce its power gradually in order to “in order to reduce the powers of those who were oppressed”.
Zuma was speaking at the sports ground of the Acornhoek Tvet College, Mpumalanga.
He said: “If you go to India, which was colonised and got independence earlier, the people of India are the ones who control their own economy.
“And if you go China, it is them the Chinese who control their economy and if you to England, it is the English who control their economy as well as in America but not here in South Africa.
“Our economy is controlled by the few, those ones who were oppressing us during Apartheid.
“So that’s the challenge we are faced with because they are always scared that we will take ownership of the economy from their hands. They want to reduce the power of the ANC because the ANC is the one that does that in its programs, that we want to better the lives of our people the economy must return to the people.
In a clear reference to white people, Zuma said: “We are not saying that when we take control of the economy they will be hungry, but we want this to redistributed equally amongst all people”.
(edited ZK)
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