“Former president Jacob Zuma is being crucified by the system, but like Jesus Christ, he will be resurrected after the Passover.”
That is a view shared by uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s Religious Leaders Forum (MKP-RLF) in Durban during a march in protest against freezing of Zuma’s accounts by First National Bank on Monday.
Zuma’s FNB accounts were frozen following a high court order after he defaulted on a multimillion-rand debt from the now-defunct VBS Mutual Bank.
About 100 MK supporters joined MKP-RLF in a march from Albert Park to FNB’s beachfront branch, next to the ANC’s provincial offices.
Zuma is a sacrifice for us as black people in the political space, we don’t have any other saviour. So we’re likening him to Jesus, who carried everyone’s sins, was embarrassed and then crucified.
— Bishop Nqoba Zindela
In the memorandum they submitted to representatives from the bank, MKP said by freezing Zuma’s accounts, FNB had disgraced him, which may affect how other banks view him.
“Zuma has no dignity with all banks now, not just FNB, so we want FNB to first reopen his accounts within seven days and then compensate him for public humiliation. He is a suspect in all banks now, so you must correct the stigma that you have done,” said Archbishop Bheki Ngcobo, a leader of MKP-RLF.
The party warned that if FNB failed to respond favourably to those demands within a week, they would mobilise the public via social media to close their banking services with them.
They also claimed that FNB, and other “big five banks”, had been systematically excluding “indigenous people” by enforcing a stricter red tape to services such as business loans and overcharging them by up to 10% on interest rates, and called for the reduction of those rates as well as a refund to those affected.
'Modern-day saviour'
Meanwhile, the party’s religious leaders believe this is part of an ongoing political and spiritual war against Zuma, and freezing his accounts is how “the system” is fighting him.
Bishop Nqoba Zindela told TimesLIVE Premium that Zuma was a modern-day “saviour” of black people who was “crucified” by the banking sector for fighting for the poor.
Zindela then likened Zuma to Jesus Christ, saying the incident happening so close to the Easter weekend had reinforced that feeling in him.
“Zuma is a sacrifice for us as black people in the political space, we don’t have any other saviour. So we’re likening him to Jesus, who carried everyone’s sins, was embarrassed and then crucified. Today that same Jesus is worshipped,” he said.
“He is not only fighting political battles but fighting spiritual wars as well because we are all poor. The religious people, traditional leaders, all of us — and Zuma has borne all those sins, so that’s why we are supporting him.”
He said Zuma has been fighting one battle after the other since the dawn of democracy and he will be “celebrated” one day.
“One day we will celebrate him as one of the spiritual figures like Shaka Zulu, King Dinizulu and Shembe of Nazareth. One day he will get to that level.”
Despite conceding that the bank was acting on a court order to freeze the accounts, Ngcobo said this was all part of a campaign by “white monopoly capital” against Zuma because of his stance on the land issue.
“There is someone who applied to the court in order for the court to make that decision in the first place, and we’re saying the same people must make an application for his accounts to be reopened,” he said.
“We always find that all the institutions of white monopoly capital are attacking Zuma, they continue to dictate over him. They did it while Zuma was with the ANC and they’re continuing now that Zuma is talking about the land.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.