“I think Zuma must stay,” said one speaker at Rise South Africa’s rally against the president on Wednesday. It was an open mic event.

“What!”

“What!”

“Because I think that this is a white people’s campaign. What do you think?”

On Wednesday, about 150 people gathered in Johannesburg after civil society organisations, under the banner of Rise South Africa, called for mass action against President Zuma. The crowd was diverse and didn’t feature the chastised examples of whiteness from the #ZumaMustFall rallies, but the low turnout hung over the spirited calls for Zuma to leave office.

“I’m here because I want a bright future,” said Lebo Kotlolo, a 16-year-old Azapo member. While the event welcomed political parties, they were told not to electioneer. Kotlolo said there was a lack of quality education and no electricity or running water in the area of Mamelodi she stays in. There weren’t many people at the rally, she said, “because they think there’s nothing they can do… but if we work together there’s a good chance of fighting it”.

Rise South Africa was formed after the recent meeting at the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg, which stemmed from religious and civil society leaders condemning President Zuma on the steps of the Constitutional Court, which found he and the National Assembly failed to uphold the Constitution in their treatment of the public protector’s Nkandla report. Zuma has faced fierce criticism since the judgment, but Wednesday’s event failed to significantly draw a greater crowd than the number that came to UJ.

Photo: Thousands of South Africans take to the streets of Cape Town in protest against president Jacob Zuma calling for his resignation on Freedom Day public holiday in Cape Town, South Africa 27 April 2016. EPA/NIC BOTHMA

While demonstrators against Zuma were gathering in Johannesburg and Cape Town, the president was addressing a Freedom Day event in Giyani, Limpopo. “What is important is that we should humble ourselves. If you were elected at one point and people no longer want you, humble yourself,” he is reported to have said. “Political parties are not meant to divide people or to create hatred among people. Politicians who do so don’t know politics and what needs to be done politically in the country.”

Zuma noted the country’s challenges and called for all South Africans to take part in the upcoming local government elections. “Local government is everybody’s business. We urge all South Africans to come out in their numbers to vote on the 3rd of August 2016,” he said.

Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota was one of the better-known leaders at the Johannesburg event. South Africans have been betrayed, he said, as the ANC has shown the middle finger to the Constitution and has allowed outsiders to capture the state. “We must get ready for the long march but we must get to the democracy that we fought for,” said Lekota. He said those present on Wednesday were few but had large support across the country.

He compared the current movement against the president to the forming of the ANC and United Democratic Movement, which built their bases over time. “I am quite convinced that many men and women in this country are rising up because they are beginning to feel that the ANC has broken the promise to govern by the Constitution.”

Ken Haiden, 62, said, “I’m here because I’m trying to stand together with the people who are tired of what’s going on in this country. Our leaders seem to be totally disinterested in the people of South Africa.” Zuma and the country’s leaders “only have regard for their own bank balances, their own friendships, and we can’t have a country run on that basis”. They don’t fear God, he said, and while he was “amazed” to see so few people at the event, he hoped it was the start of something bigger.

The rally featured a vote. An evil-looking cartoon of Zuma was pitted against the Constitution. Unsurprisingly, the Constitution won 99.5 percent of the vote, with one abstention.

Joe Mwase, 48, said, “I came here because I wanted to support the call for the incumbent president to do the honourable thing after the judgment of the Constitutional Court, do the right thing and leave office.” He wasn’t concerned about the event’s low numbers as long as he was there to support the right principles. “I think it is the beginning of something that is genuine. I think it could be accused of being politically motivated but I think it’s something that’s genuine,” he said.

Before the event closed with a prayer, a performance of Freedom is Coming from the musical Sarafina, and the few demonstrators making as much noise as they could, organiser Ferial Adam explained that there was no funding for the rally. “While many are saying it’s a small number, we only expected between 200 and 300 people. We’re saying this is a starting point, the starting point of mobilisation and we’re saying we need to grow those numbers, and that’s what we’re going to be doing.

“People are really angry. Service delivery is appalling in our country. Unemployment is extremely high and that is the bread and butter issues that are affecting people. So you see your president building this huge massive Nkandla when people are hungry and having no remorse, of course people are going to be angry,” said Adam.

“We cannot sit back and allow this to get worse because if we do it will get worse. We have to try. We’ve got nothing else but to try.”

Rise South Africa hopes to raise funds and increase mobilisation. It’s planning a “massive” event on 16 June, according to Adam, and will support a protest outside the Gupta family’s residence on 14 May. While it says events across the country are showing increased anger against the president, unless it manages to get the numbers on the street, it won’t be taken seriously and will continue to be derided as a minority movement. DM

Photo: Participants in The People’s Assembly made up of civil society leaders and ordinary people hold placards as they take part in a rally to pressure the government into impeaching or demanding the resignation of South African President Zuma, Johannesburg, South Africa, 27 April 2016. Some 75 civil society groups included those from churches, Corruption Watch and Section 27 are united in calling for the resignation of the president after he was found by the Constitutional Court to have illegally benefitted from upgrades to his personal homestead known as Nkandla. EPA/CORNELL TUKIRI