Zuma’s support goes beyond loyalty on ethnic lines: Analyst

Political analyst, Dr Imraan Buccus, says the support displayed for former president Jacob Zuma in Nkandla, at the weekend, goes beyond loyalty on ethnic lines.

He was responding to comments made by African National Congress (ANC) deputy secretary-general, Jessie Duarte, who briefed media in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

That briefing is in the video below:

She said the activities around Nkandla did not represent a popular uprising, but was engineered by some within the party.

Buccus says the issue runs deeper. “I think it is very evident that there is a level of mobilisation that is hugely divisive for the ANC. It is clear also that it is being engineered. What I think we need to be more careful about is calling it ethnic mobilisation. There might be an element of ethnic mobilisation, but I think at a larger level, the mainstay of forces are being mobilised.”

“That is not necessary happening along ethnic lines. There are RET forces being mobilised in the North West and you know French element in Gauteng. So that is happening in many parts of the country but obviously the centre focus here is KwaZulu-Natal,” adds Buccus.

Meanwhile,  Zuma’s son, Edward claims the Constitutional Court’s decision that his father should be imprisoned for contempt of court was designed to divide the Zulu people.

He says the judiciary is compromised.

Edward Zuma reiterates his father will not be arrested: