Vocal Fees Must Fall activist Bonginkosi Khanyile said on Thursday at the Jacob Zuma prayer event in Durban that the youth of South Africa must rise and fight for the truth.
Khanyile said white people in South Africa are consolidating power with the help of some black leaders.
He said the manner in which Zuma was imprisoned was wrong and should not happen to any person in the country.
Khanyile said everyone should stand behind the agenda of black people who are traumatised and subjected to media propaganda, referring to Dudu Myeni, suspended ANC SG Ace Magashule and Bathabile Dlamini.
"White people are consolidating power. They are working day and night. They are working with some black leaders. This battle we are fighting, it is the battle of the oppressor and the oppressed. We have a responsibility of uniting and defeating white power.
"We want young people who are going to fight for the truth, who will defend the truth by any means necessary, " Khanyile said at People’s Park.
Video: Jehran Naidoo/IOL Politics
Suspended ANC SG Ace Magashule, who was present at the event, said he would continue to campaign for the ruling party.
Former ANC member Carl Niehaus spoke to the media briefly amid the commotion, explaining that Zuma went to prison for pushing radical economic transformation and nothing else.
"I am here as a comrade and friend of President Jacob Zuma. He has been treated unfairly. He was given a jail sentence without a proper trial. He has been specifically targeted because he has a particular political view which does not gel with the leadership in the ANC.
He has been pushing radical economic transformation and that is the reason he went to jail," Niehaus said.
RET champion Nkosentsha Shezi said that Zuma had been attacked by both the media and government officials.
Shezi said Zuma was a man from the working class and stood for the liberation of black people. He said Zuma was the hope for the oppressed.
"It is president Jacob Zuma who is standing up for a redress, for justice for the African natives. Therefore, President Zuma has been tormented," Shezi said.
jehran.naidoo@inl.co.za
Political Bureau