Former president of the ANC and current leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP). | Itumeleng English/ Independent Newspapers
Durban — Zululand University-based political analyst Professor Sipho Seepe says that the ANC will “regret” expelling former president Jacob Zuma from the ANC.
“This will come to bite the ANC. Zuma is the second most prominent ANC leader after (former president) Nelson Mandela. This will backfire spectacularly for the ANC,” said Seepe.
Seepe said Zuma’s expulsion would further cripple the ANC.
“Zuma must continue to work for the MK Party and leave the ANC because it has shown that it doesn’t want him in the party,” said Seepe.
This was after Zuma’s meteoric rise in the ANC, a party he joined when he was 17 years old, came crashing down on Sunday after the once-dominant party summarily axed him.
Zuma’s troubles started when he dramatically ditched the ANC and publicly endorsed the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) on December 16, a party that went on to bag 58 seats in the National Assembly during the May elections.
Despite dumping the ANC, Zuma kept his decades-long membership – until Sunday.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the MKP raked in 37 seats in the 80-seater provincial legislature and dislodged the ANC from the political throne in the province.
Zuma, who led the ANC as president from 2007 to 2017, became the first former president of the ANC to be expelled.
After Zuma publicly endorsed the MKP in December, the ANC, a party that Zuma led for 10 years, hauled him over the coals.
In a statement released on Sunday, the ANC said: “The charged member (Zuma) is found guilty of contravening the Rule 25.17.17 of the ANC constitution, read with subsection (2), for prejudicing the integrity of or the repute of the organisation by acting in collaboration with a registered political party, to wit the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, which is not in alliance with the ANC, in a manner contrary to the aims, policies and objectives of the ANC.”
Zuma can appeal against his expulsion within 21 days if he still wants to retain his ANC membership.
The disciplinary committee was chaired by ANC veteran Enver Surty.
Zuma was represented by his ally and ANC stalwart Tony Yengeni.
The 8-member disciplinary committee included Faith Muthambi, Nocawe Mafu and Robinson Ramaite.
In its finding, the committee said: “After admitting that he was aware of the registration of uMkhonto weSizwe as a political party with the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa and gave it his blessing, the charged member (Zuma) maintained that he was still a member of the ANC and would die as a member of the ANC.”
The committee added: “The NDC is of the view that the charged member’s anger against the ANC overcame his emotional attachment to the organisation and blinded him from seeing the contradictory position he had placed himself in.
“As torturous as it may be for the charged member to find himself outside the ANC after devoting more than six decades of his life to the organisation at great personal sacrifice, it would not be permissible for him to be a member of the MK Party and the ANC at the same time.”
Like many ANC veterans, Zuma had spent 10 years on Robben Island. He held the position of head of intelligence in Lusaka, Zambia, the party’s then headquarters during apartheid.
When the ANC and its alliance partner, the SACP, were unbanned in 1990 by apartheid president FW de Klerk, Zuma and his predecessors, Thabo Mbeki and incumbent ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, were part of the negotiating team with the apartheid government, with Nelson Mandela leading the talks.
From then on, Zuma became a popular figure in political circles. He played a key role in re-establishing peace in KwaZulu-Natal in peace talks between the IFP and the ANC. It helped to have a Zulu negotiator representing the ANC in the region instead of Mandela or Mbeki.
After democracy was achieved in 1994, Zuma was deployed as the MEC for Economic Development and Tourism in KZN.
At the time, he also held the position of national chairperson of the party.
In the 1997 elective conference in Mafikeng, Zuma was elected as the party’s deputy president, with his long-time ally-cum-foe, Mbeki, being the president.
At Mafikeng, delegates were already saying: “Zuma, you will be the next president.”
In 2005, Zuma was sacked by Mbeki following allegations that he was involved in a corrupt relationship with his then-financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.
The allegations continue to hover over his head as opposition parties pushed for Zuma to have his day in court over the 783 corruption charges against him.
In 2007, Zuma challenged Mbeki at the watershed Polokwane elective conference – and won.
The next year, the ANC’s highest authority, the National Executive Committee (NEC) led by Zuma, recalled Mbeki.
Kgalema Motlanthe took over as interim president while Zuma fought to clear his name.
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