President Jacob Zuma on Thursday warned a group of North West residents not to vote for small parties that "can’t do anything" with their votes.

"There are many people who are going around asking for your vote," Zuma told a crowd of about 100 people, most in African National Congress (ANC) colours, during a 10-minute stop in Maboloka, north of Brits, on Thursday morning.

He told residents of the lower to middle class residential area that these parties could not really do anything because they were not in power.

Zuma was flanked by North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo and local party leaders.

His campaign was diverted there at the last minute on Wednesday night after he had originally planned to campaign closer to Marikana, where the Economic Freedom Fighters had been actively recruiting and campaigning.

"The organisation that governs throughout the country is ANC. That (organisation) has a history of helping the country by liberating the country.

"The ANC’s task is to change and to build the country anew and bring change to all of us. So we are saying, 'vote ANC, make no mistake'.

"You’re happy, I’m happy. I’m happy that you’re happy," he said to cheers.

Zuma warned against accidentally voting for relatively unknown parties. He was referring to the AMC, a special interest party from Matatiele which got seats in Parliament after some voters apparently confused its acronym with that of the ANC.

At a stop next to the taxi rank, where people pushed each other to get a free ANC T-shirt, Zuma greeted the crowds in Tswana, saying "dumelang".

He continued in English: "We are here today because we are reminding people that the 3 rd  of August has arrived where we are voting for the municipalities, and we want people to vote ANC. We are reminding them that there is no other organisation to vote for, okay?"

He said it was important “for the country, for me, for you, for everybody” to vote ANC.

After a brief lunch at the traditional authority's headquarters, Zuma was expected to address a rally in Letlhabile.