The 2019 general elections are more significant to the ANC than the first democratic elections in 1994, former president Jacob Zuma said on Monday.

“When we voted for the first time, we were excited and happy that [former president Nelson] Mandela was released from prison. We have serious challenges now which need us to be tough and disciplined. Even opposition members must vote for the ANC, but remain in their parties,” Zuma said.

He was speaking to scores of people during an ANC KwaZulu-Natal campaign trail in Clermont, west of Durban.

“We must protect this freedom. Poverty came with land dispossession and if we can sort [out] the land issue, poverty would be eradicated.”

He said people should be bothered by people who said the land was theirs but were born somewhere else.

“Instead they should say: ‘Let’s resolve this,’ and not make it difficult,” Zuma said.

Zuma said if he was a priest, he would have likened the ANC to “Alpha and Omega”.

“The ANC is the beginning and the end. If you love your party and [you are] sentimental, I’m not fighting with you. But cast your vote where it will be put into good use and then stay in your party,” he said.

He said he has heard other parties “speak” but “none” had explained how they would help the community more than the ANC.

“That party doesn’t exist yet,” he said.

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He said some parties wanted the ANC to get less than 50% of votes at next year’s elections, “so that it becomes weak and can’t govern by itself but instead form a coalition with another party”.

“We don’t want that. We want a two-thirds majority.”

Zuma warned ANC members who were still hesitant about voting next year because they held different views about the party’s current leadership.

“I don’t want to hear people saying: ‘I don’t know if I’ll vote’. Has the ANC changed? No. But you’re voting for the ANC. You can’t fight with an individual and fight with the ANC. The ANC comes first. The people should not be hesitant to vote for the ANC. It’s not for the first time that there have been different opinions,” he said.

Having different views from another party member did not mean you were enemies, Zuma warned.

“Some members might elect Zuma, but it doesn’t mean he is the ANC itself. It’s just for a time being. After a period of time, he will leave and then you can elect the one you love. It’s a mistake to let that leader die with the ANC,” warned Zuma.

He also used the occasion to take a jibe at other political parties.

“The difference between the ANC and other political parties is that they were built on different views. Some were angry and some were expelled from the ANC. That’s why they are called parties. There’s no other party called a liberation movement like the ANC because the ANC was built by the nation,” he said.

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He urged ANC supporters to treat next year’s election as “do or die”.

“We can’t let other parties take the freedom we fought for by not voting. They’ll take it and play with it because they don’t know how it came about. You must wake even those who are sick, push them in a wheelbarrow to a voting station and take them back to bed when they have voted. One vote makes a difference,” he said.

Zuma began his day by visiting a shopping centre in Umlazi, south of Durban, in the morning.