South Africa: ANC Suspends Former Pres. Jacob Zuma

0:00

/1861

1×

Facts

• South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has suspended the membership of former Pres. Jacob Zuma after he announced he would campaign for another party in the upcoming general election, the party's secretary general Fikile Mbalula announced on Monday.¹
• He claimed that Zuma has actively compromised the integrity of the party by spearheading a campaign to oust the ANC from power, adding that this decision was taken unanimously on Sunday evening and ratified by the National Executive Committee (NEC) on Monday morning.²
• This comes as the 81-year-old Zuma, who served as president from 2009 to 2018, announced in December that he would support the newly founded uMkhonto We Sizwe (MK) party, named after the former paramilitary wing of the ANC.³
• According to Mbalula, the new party deliberately seeks to exploit the history of the armed resistance against the apartheid regime to promote an alleged counter-revolutionary agenda. He further announced legal steps to deregister the MK and recapture the name.⁴
• Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa told state-run SABC broadcaster that the NEC had made this decision because supporting another party conflicts with the ANC membership. Currently facing graft allegations and banned from running for elected office, Zuma last month denounced Ramaphosa's government as 'sellouts and apartheid collaborators.'⁵
• Amid a struggling economy, this year's general election is expected to be the most contested in democratic South Africa. Polls suggest that the ANC, which has been in power since 1994, risks dropping below 50% for the first time and being forced to form a coalition to remain in power.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Daily Maverick, ³Atlas News, ⁴RFI, ⁵Yahoo News and ⁶The Citizen.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by The Conversation. Zuma's suspension follows the ANC constitution and was a long overdue step. It was the ANC itself that created the Zuma problem by helping him and his kleptocratic system to power and then shielding him from being held accountable for corruption charges. His suspension is a first step toward fulfilling the promise to renew the party to lead South Africa out of crisis. This decision restores at least some credibility to the party that led South Africa out of apartheid and could bolster its position ahead of the upcoming general elections.
• Narrative B, as provided by Politicsweb. The reason for the emergence of the MK party is the ANC itself, whose corrupt and incompetent government has plunged South Africa into a deep economic crisis. The suspension of Zuma is further proof that Ramaphosa's party has finally abandoned its old anti-apartheid era ideals and has become a proxy of white monopoly capital. MK's momentum is based on the awareness that there can never be reconciliation and freedom without socio-economic equality and justice. South Africa needs political renewal, and MK will play its part in achieving this.

Predictions