ZUMA FACES FEISTY GOGO-JZ confronted about Nkandla graft in EL

President Jacob Zuma got more than he bargained for when he received a cool reception from the very first house he visited during his “door-to-door” campaign in Duncan Village yesterday.

With Buffalo City Metro being an ANC stronghold, the president would have thought that his campaign for the ruling party, ahead of the August 3 local government elections, would be an easy walk in the park.

But it was not to be when he stepped into “angry” 64-year-old Sheila Samente’s house in the poor township.

Samente wasted no time in giving Zuma and his entourage a piece of her mind about the glaring challenges and neglect facing her community.

She went as far as talking about the “corruption” involved in the Nkandla upgrades – the president’s R246-million private residence in KwaZulu-Natal.

She told Zuma and his delegation that she had always been a staunch ANC voter, but was “not even sure” whether she will be voting for the party this time around.

Interestingly – as if aware of her unhappiness and what she had to say – the president’s minders barred the media from entering Samente’s house while Zuma was inside.

Only a photographer was allowed to take a picture and leave.

But the Saturday Dispatch later returned to Samente to hear first hand what discussions she had had with Zuma. “When the president came inside and wanted to speak first, I stopped him and told him that I should be the first person who speaks,” she said.

Samente said she had told Zuma that she “lost all hope” in the ANC and that “it was a shame the party only pretended to be caring about people once election time arrives”.

When she told Zuma about challenges in her community, he interjected and told her he was also from an “impoverished area of Nkandla”.

“The moment he mentioned Nkandla to me, my blood boiled. I stopped him right there and told him not to get to the issue of Nkandla as he knows that there is corruption involved there.

“I told him that he should rather stick to the issue of local government and say no more about Nkandla in my house,” an emotional Samente said.

“I also told him that it was unacceptable that they promise us the world during elections and then never follow ,” she said.

Seemingly Zuma felt the sting of Samente’s words as he urged her neighbour – whose house the president visited next – to go and talk to her.

This time around, the media was allowed inside 73-year-old Gerald Qabazi’s home.

“Please, I am asking you and the local councillor here to go and speak to that lady to tell her that she must not be that angry,” Zuma pleaded with Qabazi and ward 8 councillor Ayanda Mapisa.

Zuma was accompanied by a delegation which included Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Deputy Tourism Minister Thoko Xasa, finance MEC Sakhumzi Somyo, rural development and agrarian reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane, outgoing BCM mayor Alfred Mtsi and his deputy Xola Pakati.

Zuma visited three other houses in Duncan Village where he was warmly received.

He later addressed a packed mini rally at the Gompo Hall and later another capacity crowd at Mdantsane Indoor Sports Centre - where he lambasted opposition parties, saying they were “wasting their time” by contesting the ANC, saying their “dreams would be shattered on August 3”.

Zuma will today travel to Port Elizabeth where he will address an ANC Siyanqoba rally.