“Your country needs you”
That was the rallying cry from Save SA’s Sipho Pityana, in a rousing address to hundreds of people who packed the Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, Wednesday night.
In a scathing attack on the leadership of President Jacob Zuma, Pityana said “as Save South we demand principled and ethical leadership. We are convinced, through ample evidence that we read about and that we see with our own eyes, that Zuma cannot provide ethical and principled leadership.”
“We therefore call for President Zuma to step down as the president of our nation. His values and moral standing are the very antithesis of who we are as a nation. He’s not one of us. We are led by an outsider. We are led by a unrecognisable species,” Pityana thundered to loud applause.
“It is time to elect a new president who respects the Constitution and upholds its values. A President who does not put the needs of the poor and the down-trodden behind those of his family, his cronies and many others,” said Pityana.
Opening his address, Pityana sarcastically welcomed the presence of who he said were NIA officials in the crowd. ANC councillor, Rory Riordan, who was in the crowd received a special acknowledgement from one of the event’s organisors, Khusta Jack.
Another ANC councillor, Andile Lungisa, was spotted outside the main hall.
Pityana told the crowd that he was introducing a call to action to the crowd, saying they must spread the Save SA message to their family and friends.
“That’s why our call starts with you. You must take the campaign to the ones that you love,” he said.
Pityana said people of Nelson Mandela Bay must choose a day to rally behind the cry for “Zuma to go”.
Other speakers included Lawson Naidoo of Casac, political analyst, Mcebisi Ndletyana, who said it was “treasonous that an elected leader will surrender authority to a family (Gupta).
Ndletyana said that the “abuse of power will not stop voluntarily.”
Messages of support were also delivered to the Save SA campaign by health sector lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign as well as the religious fraternity, represented by Bishop Bethlehem Nopece.
Pityana told the audience that the Save SA campaign will announce a campaign next week will lead to South Africans delivering their own motion of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma.
“Because Parliament refused to pass a vote of no confidence on this man, it is about time that ordinary citizens pass a motion of no confidence in Jacob Zuma. On the 23 (Nov) we will launch a Peoples’ Motion of No Confidence in President Zuma,” Pityana said.
