Nkandla - Former president Jacob Zuma's daughter Thokozile Zuma has urged black political parties to strive to work together better in the sixth democratic Parliament, although that should occur under an ANC with a two thirds majority.
Speaking in KwaNxamalala, Nkandla, where she, her father, three of his wives and her brother, Edward, cast their votes earlier on Wednesday, the 26-year-old said that the most important struggle facing blacks, and Africans in particular, was that for economic freedom.
Zuma says that she had voted for the ANC because of its pro black policies, particularly on land and the transformation of the economy for black people, and Africans in particular.
"I'd like to see the black parties in Parliament getting together and pushing and growing the black agenda for us as a black nation to prosper. There's no point in us fighting each other or pinpointing each other when those who aren't deployed in politics are still poor.
"We are black people, we are still poor, we want to succeed and grow so I expect growth for a black person especially after voting in these 2019 elections," she says.
Zuma says that it was significant that the land issue, an important resolution of the ANC, was being discussed robustly in the public discourse.
"The process for the land to be returned to the people has already started. Even though there's still a debate about it, at least it's a start. We want Radical Economic Transformation because we want to see black people in business, we want to see black people owning land, because the economy will never be in our hands if we don't have the land," she said.
She said processes in place to rid the government of corruption, such as the State Capture Inquiry, were important to redress past mistakes and that those implicated should be removed from the government.
Lindokuhle Mpungose, co-ordinator of the EFF in Nkandla Sub Region. Picture: Samkelo Mtshali
Meanwhile Lindokuhle Mpungose, co-ordinator of the EFF in Nkandla Sub Region, has called for the development of small-scale farmers in the area so that they, instead of white-owned farms, could supply produce to the local supermarket chains.
"There are many of our people here in Nkandla who are farmers, but they don't get the opportunity to become suppliers because white farmers from outside the area come in and make huge profits in Nkandla.
"So we want to change that and ensure that it's the small and unrecognised business, mothers selling fruits and vegetables as street vendors, who become suppliers to these local supermarket chains," Mpungose says.
He added that theirs was not simply a fight to take over and rule in Nkandla but to also provide political education to people in the area so that they could have a more in depth understanding of what was happening at all levels of government.