Wenzeni uZuma? He stole and rendered country useless, says Bheki Mtolo

KwaZulu-Natal ANC secretary Bheki Mtolo is in the spotlight this week after describing former president Jacob Zuma's tenure as having “rendered the country useless” through affiliating with the corruption-accused Gupta brothers.

Mtolo made the remarks during an election debate at a hall in Tongaat, KwaZulu-Natal, after the MK Party's Kwazi Mbanjwa said there was nothing sinister about Zuma's affiliation with the Guptas during his presidency. Mbanjwa said the Guptas came to South Africa when president Nelson Mandela was the head of state and claimed they were endorsed by former president Thabo Mbeki. 

“It is true the Guptas came to our country while Mandela and Mbeki were presidents. The difference is they did not steal with the Guptas. What Zuma did, he took our country and handed it to the Guptas. He [allegedly] stole with the Guptas and rendered our country useless. That is the difference. Zuma broke the neck of our country,” Mtolo said.

His remarks caused MK Party supporters to sing “Wenzeni uZuma?” (What has Zuma done wrong?) but Mtolo did not stop talking.

This was not the first time Mtolo criticised Zuma's presidency. In January he said the ANC lost votes during Zuma's tenure.

“We lost a lot of votes. The ANC won the elections in 1994 when Mandela was a candidate. In 1999 it received more votes when Thabo Mbeki ran for presidency. In 2004, the ANC got 69%, then it went down in 2009.

“This thing of saying ANC support went down since Ramaphosa took charge is lies. The ANC started losing support in 2009 when Zuma was president.”

IEC ANC vote stats from 1999 to 2019: 

• 1999: 10.6-million (66 %); 

• 2004: 10.8-million (69.6%);

• 2009: 11.6-million (65.9%);

• 2014: 11.4-million (62%); and

• 2019: 10-million (57.5%).

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