Former President Zuma celebrated his 78th Birthday on Sunday.
“We want to convey a message of good health and many more years of happiness and a good life after your selfless sacrifices to free us,” the Jacob Zuma Foundation writes in a statement.
The foundation also mentions Zuma’s health lately. “Despite all the obstacles and health challenges, especially in 2019 and the past few years, you have become stronger.”
In February, NewsLiteSA reported that Zuma had not attended his first court appearance in the corruption case against him due to ill health this year. He, along with French arms manufacturer Thales, is facing 18 charges of corruption, fraud, robbery and money laundering in connection with the arms deals in the 1990s with five European companies.
The ANC also issued a birthday wish in a statement praising Zuma.
“The ANC congratulates its former president and former president of South Africa on his 78th birthday.
Zuma was born on April 12, 1942 in Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal, and was unable to attend school. He learned to read himself by looking at the books of children who were in school.
“He joined the ANC Youth League and the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) in 1959, and began attending ANC and trade union meetings and classes in political education. After the banishment of the ANC in 1960, Zuma became involved in the activities of the ANC’s military wing, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
“Zuma was arrested and detained for 90 days in solitary confinement. On August 12, 1963, at the age of 21, he was convicted and sentenced to ten years imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the government, ”the ANC’s statement states, among other things.
However, Cope spokesperson Dennis Bloem added that his party would also like to mention that it is “very unfortunate that Zuma celebrates his birthday in a time when the country is in junk status due to the damage he – and the ANC who allowed him – during his presidency ”.
“We believe it was Zuma who plunged the country into the current chaos. No one can feel proud of what he has done to millions of South Africans. He ruined our children’s future and plunged into chaos.
“His entire political career and contribution was wasted by the corruption in which he found himself president. Anyone, including the ANC alliance, must agree that the nearly ten years he ruled were a period of total chaos in South Africa. One cannot describe it any other way. ”
