Duduzane Zuma wants to be president and has urged “old people” to make way for the youth to take over the country in next year’s general election.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily News for the first time about his presidential campaign in Durban on Monday, the son of former president Jacob Zuma said he had decided to make a run for the country’s presidency and believed the time had come for the youth to take the baton from the old generation, many of whom were caught on camera having an afternoon nap in Parliament.
Zuma, 40, is the first ANC member to announce that he will contest the country’s presidential election as an independent candidate.
He said he had notified his dad of his intention, and on his ANC membership, he said it will be up to the party to decide what it does to him for “doing the right thing”.
Electoral changes are expected to come into effect in next year’s general elections, which allow individuals to run for president without having to join or form political parties.
Zuma said: “We need change and I believe I am the change this country needs now.
“It is natural that the older you become, the more you lose energy, but strangely politicians believe they can stay in office until they die.”
He said he was disturbed when people discouraged him from contesting the ANC presidency at last year’s conference just because he lacked political credentials.
He said the country needs business skills rather than political credentials.
Zuma said if he gets elected he will do away with “useless lekgotlas and izimbizo” and take action since the country’s problems are known.
“Tell me, have poor people benefited from being led by people with rich political credentials?”
Daily News