WATCH | Jacob Zuma was SA's most successful president: MKP leader Hlophe

Former judge and leader of the MK Party in parliament John Hlophe used his state of the nation address (Sona) debate speech to hail his party’s leader, Jacob Zuma, as the best president South Africa ever had. 

Hlophe’s accolades for Zuma, who was in attendance at the Sona debate, comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa's administration faces a geopolitical crisis after Pretoria was criticised by US President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. 

The signing of several controversial laws by Ramaphosa, including the Bela Act, the NHI and most recently the expropriation act has seen him become the target of scrutiny. However, the Presidency has received unlikely support, with former EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi taking to social media to show his support.

But Hlophe said Ramaphosa was not better at his job than Zuma had been. 

Hlophe said the characterisation of Zuma’s presidency as nine wasted years was not true as Zuma was at the centre of ensuring there was adequate service delivery to, especially, black people. 

He spoke glowingly on Zuma’s legacy as president saying that, unlike Ramaphosa, Zuma has not made countless empty promises.

“During his tenure as president and head of state, President Zuma never told lies. He never claimed easy victories. President Zuma prioritised the work on the ground and delivered the services to our people,” said Hlophe. “We take this opportunity, as uMkhonto we Sizwe, to say without any of doubt or contradictions, by all measures and standards, President Jacob Zuma is the most successful president and head of state that South Africa has ever had.”

Zuma has been labelled as the architect of state capture, having been president during the years in which South Africa's state resources were plundered. Zuma was sentenced to prison when he refused to abide by a Constitutional Court order to appear before the state capture commission, which he had approved.

During his time as president, Zuma was also ruled to have flouted the constitution in a scathing ruling by the apex court over former public protector Thuli Mandosela's Nkandla report. 

Despite this, Hlophe said, there was statistical evidence that the “so-called nine wasted years under Zuma were actually littered with progress”.

Among Zuma’s successes listed by Hlophe was that life expectancy increased in the country as well as access to education. There were also “huge programmes of infrastructure”.

Hlophe said that before Zuma took office, life expectancy in South Africa was 50 years and this increased to more than 64 years under Zuma. This was because, he said, under Zuma there were clear government interventions which included access to ARVs which saw a decrease in the number of deaths of HIV and Aids infected people.

Zuma also announced free education and was the only president since 1994 to build new universities “and that is the legacy of the nine years we are talking,” he said. 

“In relation to infrastructure, President Zuma is No 1 when it comes to driving expenditure on education, health care, roads and transport, and basic services of infrastructure than any other president in South Africa,” he said.

“President Zuma built more hospitals, more roads and more schools than any other head of state and president in South Africa — that is a fact. It was under President Zuma’s presidency that the social protection net was expanded to reduce the devastating poverty and suffering of our people,” he said.

He said Zuma openly advocated the expropriation of land without compensation but was failed by a reactionary and collaborative parliamentary caucus which frustrated an agreement among progressive parties to amend section 25 of the constitution.

He also credited Zuma with pushing for South Africa to be accepted as a member of the Brics group in 2010. 

 TimesLIVE