JOHANNESBURG: Former South African President Jacob Zuma has been expelled from his long-time party, the African National Congress, the secretary general of the party said on Monday.
Zuma’s membership of the ANC was suspended in January after announcing he would campaign for the new uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party in the general election, which was held this May.
The ANC lost its majority in the parliament for the first time in 30 years of the vote, forcing it to share power with smaller rivals to form a unity government. MK performed better than expected in the poll and won about 15 percent of the vote.
“Former President Jacob Zuma has actively impugned the integrity of the ANC and campaigned to dislodge the ANC from power, while claiming that he had not severed his membership,” ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula in a statement said.
“This conduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organisational discipline and letter of the ANC Constitution.”
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The ANC won 40.18 percent of the vote in the election, down from the 57.50 percent it got in 2019, forcing it into a unity government for the first time since it took power at the end of white minority rule in 1994.
MK in a statement has criticized the ANC’s process and condemned grave injustices against Zuma. “President Zuma will engage his legal team to urgently determine the course of action,” it said.
Zuma will have 21 days to appeal against the decision.
Zuma, whose nine years in office from 2009 were marked by corruption and poor economic growth, has been at odds with the ANC’s leadership since he was forced to quit as party leader in 2018.
