Durban — Former president Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane Zuma, has urged families and communities to play an active role in fighting gender-based violence in the country.
Speaking exclusively to the Daily News for the first time about his presidential campaign on Monday in Durban, the young Zuma said he had decided to run for the country’s presidency and ending gender-based violence was topping his plan if he gets elected.
He said although the government had to play the central role by enacting biting laws, families and communities were the ones that would eventually end the scourge. He said people should stop treating love relationships as the problem between two people and urged families and neighbours not to hesitate in getting involved and sit the couple down to find out what the problems are.
“Police are not trained to resolve marital problems so if we as the families and communities are failing to resolve these problems we cannot expect the police to do magic. Families of the couple must come together and resolve these matters before they reach a violent stage because once someone has been hurt that's where the law and the police come in. But these structures would not help the couple to stay together in peace because what caused their fight would still not have been resolved. Communities should not look away,” said Zuma.
The young Zuma appears to have a following among women. Asked whether he was banking on their support for his ambition to become the youngest president of South Africa, he said although he would want women to stand up and use their majority to elect a woman president, he would very much appreciate it if they voted for him in numbers because he respected them. He added that he was not happy that women were still underrated in the whole world yet they were a majority.
Zuma is the first ANC member to announce that he would contest presidential elections as an independent. He said he did not need permission from anyone to do the right thing, saying he did not need his father’s permission and it would be a question of notifying him, not asking for his permission. Electoral changes are expected to come into effect in next year’s general election which allows individuals to run without having to join or form political parties.
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