We can't be bossed around by De Klerk: Dlamini-Zuma

Opposition parties have nothing to offer‚ presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says.

She questioned why the ANC cowered when their rivals challenged them.

Dlamini-Zuma‚ a member of the ANC's powerful national executive committee‚ was speaking at an interfaith and business dinner held at the White Horse Casino in Pietermaritzburg on Thursday evening.

“Opposition is there to oppose‚ by definition. I don’t know why we get worried when they do. It doesn’t mean you must follow it. Since 1994 they have been opposing‚ but of late when the opposition opposes‚ we rush for cover. Why?” said Dlamini-Zuma.

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Former president FW de Klerk‚ who recently co-founded the National Foundations Dialogue Initiative with former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe‚ was also on the receiving end of Dlamini-Zuma’s criticism.

“We cannot be told by the opposition what to do. We cannot be told by De Klerk what to do. Never‚ never. Who do they represent?” she asked.

She challenged South Africans to take charge of the economy‚ asking‚ “How radical can we be if we do not command our economy?”

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“We need to be equal everywhere‚ not just voting‚ but also in the economy ... while colonisers left other African countries‚ they remained here. So if we are not united as the ANC‚ as society‚ we will not to be able to do it. They will come between us and bash us‚ one way or another‚ but we must keep moving‚” she said.

Dlamini-Zuma said while Africa was rich in minerals‚ Africans were poor. She said mining companies came and extracted from the bowels of the earth and left Africans poor. She stressed that renewable energy was an untapped resource‚ saying Africans should explore it and move away from fossil fuels.

Dlamini-Zuma called for the establishment of more banks and the return of land to radically transform the economy and benefit those still gripped in the stranglehold of poverty and inequality.