Former president Jacob Zuma is expected to make his first in-person public appearance since being discharged from hospital when he addresses the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) rally at Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaMashu, north of Durban, on Sunday morning.
Scheduled to begin at 10:00, the gathering forms part of the final weekend of campaigning before South Africans head to the polls for the local government elections, with special voting taking place on Monday and Tuesday ahead of election day on Wednesday.
Zuma speaks out after 11-day hospital stay
Ahead of Sunday's rally, the 84-year-old MK Party leader addressed the nation on Friday evening in what appeared to be a pre-recorded video message, calling on voters to turn out in numbers and back his party.
“But more than anything, vote for uMkhonto weSizwe, and I will be very happy,” Zuma said.
“I am certain that there will be a lot of them who will do so as those who belong with us want to make our country a good country.”
During the short briefing, Zuma urged residents frustrated by poor municipal service delivery to use the elections to bring in new local leadership.
“No matter what other people can say and do, we are ready to take over,” he said.
“We have made a very big call to the South African people to take back the country, and I am sure that our people are going to do it. We are going to make South Africa a country among countries.”
Zuma was admitted to Netcare St Anne’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg on 6 October after falling ill while speaking at a campaign event in uMsinga, northern KwaZulu-Natal. He reportedly spent 11 days in hospital before being discharged on 17 October, though he continued visiting the medical facility for further observation.
While Zuma did not explicitly mention his hospital admission in Friday's video, he thanked supporters who sent well-wishes “when I was somewhere”.
“They went around and said a lot, wishing that I should be as good as everybody will be, and I am very happy that people could say that I should come back and be what I am now,” he said.
Following his discharge on 17 October, Zuma missed a mini-rally in uMgababa, south of Durban, the next day. At the time, his son and MK Party first deputy president, Duduzane Zuma, told supporters that his father was resting at home.
Parties wrap up final weekend of campaigning
Also on Sunday, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Velenkosini Hlabisa will lead his party’s Siyanqoba rally in its traditional stronghold of Ulundi in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
The Sunday rallies follow a packed Saturday on the campaign trail as major political parties hosted their closing events:
* **ANC:** President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed supporters at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.
* **EFF:** Commander-in-chief Julius Malema rallied supporters at a packed Orlando Stadium in Soweto.
* **DA:** Party leader Geordin Hill-Lewis led the final national rally at Moretele Park in Mamelodi, Tshwane.
At the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) rally in Soweto on Saturday, the party unveiled its three female mayoral candidates for Gauteng's major metros — Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Ekurhuleni.
Speaking to the crowd ahead of Malema, Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate Nthabiseng Tshivhenga pledged that under her leadership, the municipality would focus on creating jobs for women and young people, insourcing municipal workers, and rooting out corrupt metro police officers.
“We have seen a lot of our young people and women who are not working in the city because there is a refusal to implement the insourcing motion of the EFF tabled in November 2022,” Tshivhenga said.
“We are going to employ all our cleaners and security guards permanently with pension and job security.”
Pointing out that Ekurhuleni still lacks its own university and remains underdeveloped despite hosting OR Tambo International Airport, Tshivhenga added that sewage spills continued to plague streets across the metro.
“We commit that we are going to make in-sourced maintenance services so that our people can be employed permanently and be able to resolve those issues,” she said.