WATCH: 'When we keep quiet we become accomplices' Mandela granddaughter joins calls for Zuma to go

27 April 2017 - 16:43 By Times LIVE
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Late President Nelson Mandela's eldest granddaughter‚ Ndileka Mandela.
Late President Nelson Mandela's eldest granddaughter‚ Ndileka Mandela.
Image: TimesLIVE

Late President Nelson Mandela's eldest granddaughter‚ Ndileka Mandela‚ has actively joined the call for President Jacob Zuma to leave office‚ saying the president was found wanting by the highest court in the land.

“We are saying as a people‚ we want a leader that cannot be found wanting by the highest court in the land‚” she said.

Last year the Constitutional Court found Zuma failed to uphold‚ defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the land in his handling of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's State of Capture report‚ which found he unduly benefitted from the R246-million upgrade to his Nkandla home.

Ndileka joined thousands of people at the Caledonian stadium in Arcadia‚ Pretoria‚ on Thursday‚ Freedom Day‚ using the holiday to intensify the campaign to oust Zuma.

She said what really brought her to the rally‚ as a concerned citizen and a social activist‚ was the suffering she witnessed in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape.

  • WATCH: Mandela’s daughter urges the people to call the government to orderStruggle icon Nelson Mandela’s eldest granddaughter‚ Ndileka Mandela‚ has called on South Africans not to forget how far they have come and to stand together to ensure peace and prosperity in the country. 

“I work with rural communities...I know how they suffer the indignities and it was promised to our people that there would be jobs and education but yet they are studying in dilapidated schools and under trees‚” she said.

Ndileka said it was a day of celebration but also a day of reminding government to account to the people.

She had a message for ANC MPs participating in the vote of no confidence debate against Zuma in parliament: “Vote with your conscience‚ uphold the legacy of our founding fathers. Be moral and ethical leaders that would do the right thing to take our country forward.”

Also joining the rally organised by the Freedom Movement‚ a multi-party and civil society drive‚ was Mandela's former private secretary‚ Zelda la Grange.

</p><p ="">She said taking part in the rally was about honouring the founding fathers of a democratic SA.</p><p ="">“History has taught us a very expensive lesson that we will be held to account in future for what happens now in our country. When we keep quiet we become accomplices‚ so we need to speak up and make our voices heard‚ and if I have a voice and I think people can listen to me‚ even if I represent just one person‚ I will continue to use that voice and speak up against injustice‚” La Grange said.</p><p ="">She said Zuma's administration was consumed by dishonesty‚ lack of integrity and accountability.</p><p ="">“All of us are standing here in the stadium because of sacrifices made by people and we need to honour those people and their sacrifices by being responsible citizens and supporting the initiatives like the Freedom Movement to bring about change in a much larger scale‚” she said.</p>

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