Jobless graduates, struggling business owners and army veterans marched through the eastern South African city of Pietermaritzburg this week, chanting the name “Jacob Zuma.”The 500 or so demonstrators brought to a standstill parts of the city, in KwaZulu-Natal Province — the traditional stronghold of Mr. Zuma, a past president of both South Africa and the African National Congress, the party that governed the country for three decades.
Demanding water and electricity, the protest over commonplace local concerns was also a show of power for the new political party that Mr. Zuma now leads — uMkhonto weSizwe, or M.K.
— with the hope of eroding the dominant position of his former allies.
“We are going to have to fight for things to change,” said Khumbuzile Phungula, 49, who joined the march after her neighborhood went weeks without water.
is all about change.”
Persons:
“ Jacob Zuma, ”, Zuma, — uMkhonto, Khumbuzile Phungula
Organizations:
African National Congress
Locations:
African, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu, Natal Province, South Africa