South Africa’s ruling ANC expels ex-president Zuma for backing rival party

Jacob Zuma, who once led the African National Congress (ANC), has been accused of campaigning to dislodge it from power.

Former South African President Jacob Zuma has been expelled from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) after he backed a rival party in May’s parliamentary election that saw the ANC lose the majority, the party said on Monday.

“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 told the media.

“This conduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organisational discipline and letter of the ANC Constitution.”

Zuma, who once led the ANC, was suspended from the party in January after announcing he would support the new uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in the general election. He later became the leader and face of MK.

MK did better than expected in the poll and won about 15 percent of the vote, a major factor in the ANC’s loss of its majority for the first time since the apartheid era.

The ANC won 40.18 percent of the vote in the election, down from the 57.50 percent it garnered in 2019, forcing it into a coalition government for the first time since it took power at the end of white minority rule in 1994. MK is now the official opposition.

MK responded to media reports that Zuma had been expelled in a statement earlier on Monday, criticising the ANC’s process and condemning “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 the decision, the ANC said.

Zuma, whose nine years in office from 2009 were marked by corruption scandals and sluggish economic growth, has been at odds with the ANC’s leadership since he was forced to quit as party leader in 2018. He has repeatedly lashed out against his successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.