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DURBAN – Former President Jacob Zuma says President Cyril Ramaphosa’s remarks about “nine wasted years” are a false narrative and must be answered with a book, That way it stays in people’s minds longer.
Speaking at the launch of his new book “Jacob Zuma’s Speech” in Durban on Friday, Zuma said it was a direct response to Ramaphosa, who said his nine years as the country’s president were waste.
He said he was taken aback by what the president said because of his involvement in those nine years as vice president. Zuma said Ramaphosa was the best person to tell the people what the government had done in the nine years since he was deputy, but he decided to call it a wasted nine years.
“I don’t mind being criticized when I leave government because it’s common for presidents to be criticized after they leave office, but I didn’t expect to be criticized by my deputy. I initially thought I should just ignore it and let it go, if it was an ordinary person or What a certain reporter said, I wouldn’t bother to respond because I would assume that person didn’t know what he was talking about, but since this is the number two man in the country I feel I should respond to him to correct this in society Created the false narrative that for nine years I did nothing as president,” Zuma said.
He said he wanted to respond with statements and talk, but realized it wasn’t enough because people would forget after a few days, and he felt he should write his response in a book that people would read often over the next few years. refer to. Zuma also stated that he wanted to respond before he died because in heaven he would have problems, when Oliver Tambo asked what happened and asked if it was not true, why didn’t he respond and deny?
The former president urged people to read the book to see how they can contribute to the betterment of the country.
He cites excerpts from the book about his decision to declare free education despite objections. He said he was told there was no money to fund free education, but he made the announcement anyway, telling his opponents that the money would come from the Public Investment Corporation, an entity that holds government employees’ pensions. For him, he said, it was a fulfillment of the Freedom Charter, which says the doors of learning should be open to all.
Other issues Zuma raises in the book are the maritime economy and the importance of South Africa’s BRICS membership, which he says has the potential to boost the country’s economy. The BRICS are an economic bloc consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
He said South Africa was likely to become a world player at the United Nations, taking advantage of Russia and China, which have veto power in the Security Council. On the marine economy, also his brainchild, Zuma said there was a lot of idle economic opportunity in the sea, adding that by this time, he thought there would be a boat from Durban to Richards Bay, saying it would ease the road Transport congestion and reduce fatal accidents on N2.
The book was co-authored by Zululand Vice-Chancellor Professor Sipho Seepe and Kim Heller, with contributions from JG Foundation Chairman Dudu Myeni. The event was attended by former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe and advocate Dali Mpofu, among others.
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