President Jacob Zuma on Friday told more than 3 000 ANC supporters at a cadres forum in Pietermaritzburg that he was no thief.
“You can spread lies as big as Durban. I don’t care,” Zuma told the supporters at city hall.
He said he always laughed at people who called him a dog.
“I am not a dog. I am a human being. It is like people who are stealing today, they say I am stealing but they are the biggest culprits.
“Abantshontshi go,” said Zuma in IsiZulu.
“They have been investigating me over and over but they cannot find anything because I am not doing anything. If they had found anything, a lot would have gone wrong.
“The same people that are accusing me are the ones that are stealing and I know exactly what they are stealing. I know exactly who they are.”
He told members not to be alarmed when people make accusations against the ANC.
Zuma was welcomed by thousands of supporters at Pietermaritzburg city hall on Friday to deliver his speech, in which he addressed many topics.
He said that when retires, he will write a tell-all book about his tenure as the president of the country.
He also took jibes at former public protector Thuli Madonsela and the Economic Freedom Fighters, without naming anyone directly, and said it was important to “know your enemy”.
Zuma said though his biggest enemies now were those he once considered friends.
He also said South Africa was not liked globally because it was independent and chose to join the Brics group, which has unsettled Western balances of forces in global politics.