Free State ANC denies using poor whites as puppets

14 May 2013 - 11:28 By Sapa
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A puppet. File photo.
A puppet. File photo.
Image: Ker Robertson/ Getty

The Free State ANC has denied using poor whites as puppets to attract votes in next year's elections, it was reported on Tuesday.

The Volksblad reported that more than 100 poor whites were given front row seats at the African National Congress's recent elective conference in the Free State.

While many of them wore T-shirts bearing the image of President Jacob Zuma, who is also president of the ANC, they told the newspaper they did not know who the ANC president was, and said they attended the conference only to get food parcels.

"I did not even know that we would be brought to the conference," one of the visitors was quoted as telling the Volksblad.

According to the newspaper, Free State premier's unit for minorities member Sandlana Smit had denied that the white delegates were part of a hire-a-white election strategy.

She reportedly said some of them would not know who Zuma was because they were to poor to have access to the media.

Smit said many white South Africans supported the ANC, but they did not publicly announce it for fear of being victimised.

Free State ANC spokesman Oupa Khaobane told Volksblad many white South Africans had complained that the ANC neglected them, and that the group had been invited to experience ANC culture.

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