Exclusive: Zuma rejected ANC's GNU advances

A LEAKED voice note revealed how former President Jacob Zuma and current leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) recently rejected overtures to join the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) in KwaZulu-Natal. 

Speaking candidly to senior Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) members in a closed meeting of the National High Command, the highest decision-making body of the party, in Durban, last week, Zuma portrayed the unity proposal as a calculated attempt by “political elites” to neutralise radical opposition and consolidate power.

The cracks in the ANC-led ten-party Government widened after the DA opposed the 0,5 Value Added Tax (VAT) increase that was proposed by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. With the ANC not having a clear majority for the proposed VAT increase, it went with a begging bowl to opposition parties to support the move. 

It took parties outside of the GNU, including Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA, for the budget to be passed. The DA and the EFF have lodged a court bid to have the VAT increase scrapped.

However, before achieving the approval, indications are that Zuma was approached for support, but he apparently was dismissive of the overtures made to him.

“They are planning to come and convince me,” he said in the recording.

 “They said the political party does not belong to an individual, it belongs to all of us. Our members were told to convince me to accept the proposal made by the ANC to have three parties take over the country.” 

According to Zuma, the unity deal would ultimately sideline the DA, suggesting that once the GNU was formalised, “the DA would be kicked out of the government, end of story.” 

Zuma said the implication was that the GNU may be less about national unity and more about marginalising opposition under the guise of stability. 

Zuma cast this maneuvering as part of a broader campaign by what he termed “the enemy” to derail the country’s political and economic future.

 “There are other issues related to what I am saying. I believe when we deal with politics, we must deal directly and honestly. Now we have enemies who suddenly appear as friends. We must ask ourselves what that truly means.”

The leaked voice note revealed Zuma’s deep distrust of his rivals within the ANC, a party he led for ten years from 2007 to 2018.

Zuma also turned inward, conceding factional tensions within the MKP itself. He warned that internal divisions could derail the party’s revolutionary agenda. “The fact that we have problems among ourselves says that our politics have not matured. Our duty, without hesitation, is to liberate our people who have been suffering for centuries. Our direction must be one direction.” 

Zuma also spoke about his fraught relationship with former President Thabo Mbeki. “We (Zuma and Mbeki) have parted ways this time around. I mention this because it’s real. We disagreed on things we once agreed upon. Our objections were no longer the same,” said Zuma.

Zuma accused certain figures within the ANC – without mentioning any names – of subverting the party from within.

“The people who were recruited into the ANC have become a majority and turned the ANC into something else. Now we cannot agree with those people.” 

Zuma was expelled from the ANC on July 29 last year after the party’s National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) found him guilty on two charges of misconduct.

This related to him launching the MKP, a party that has since made a stunning electoral debut. 

In the 2024 general election, the MKP secured 58 seats in the 400-member National Assembly and 37 of the 80 seats in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.

DAILY NEWS