Canaan Mdletshe

Canaan Mdletshe

Jacob Zuma's family has won the race to stage his 65th birthday party.

Scheduled for Durban's Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre tomorrow, it was contested by his family, Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust and his RDP Education Trust.

Relatives said it would be an "ordinary party". Two buses have been organised to ferry people from the rural N kandla area tomorrow morning.

Zuma was born on April 12 1942.

His brother, Mike Zuma, said: "The family have organised him a birthday party and wanted it to be here in Nkandla.

"But because of business-people who have sponsored the event, it was decided that it be held in Durban."

He said many people, including the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, wanted to host the party, but the family won the bid to organise it.

Halala Sibiya, chairman of the Jacob Zuma RDP Education Trust, said they also wanted to hold a party for Msholozi.

She said a series of events were in the pipeline to thank him for the good he has done for the poorest of the poor.

"But we will be throwing him a party when the time is right.

"We want to thank him and the ancestors for giving us someone like him. He is everything to us and especially to thousands of poor children in our area and across the province," Sibiya said.

Don Mkhwanazi, chairman of the Friends of Jacob Zuma Trust, said they would have loved to be the hosts.

"His family is organising the party and all they asked from me were the names of people who had donated something to the trust, and I gave them those names," Mkhwanazi said.

Only close friends, family members, relatives and business people are expected to attend. Zuma was not available for comment.