Former President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has been expelled from the African National Congress (ANC) party.
Zuma formed a new political party called the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, which contested in the recent elections and won nearly 15% of the national vote.
This made the MK Party the third largest in the country and led to the ANC losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994. To maintain power, the ANC formed a unity government with several other parties, including their main rival, the Democratic Alliance.
Despite leading the MK Party and criticising the ANC, Jacob Zuma claimed he still belonged to the ANC. However, after a disciplinary hearing, the ANC expelled him for damaging the party’s integrity by creating and supporting a rival party.
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula stated that Zuma’s actions were against the party’s principles and constitution.
“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. His conduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organisational discipline and letter of the ANC constitution,” Mbalula said.
The MK Party has criticised the expulsion, accusing the ANC of unfair treatment.
Zuma, who had been an ANC member for 60 years and its president for almost a decade, argued that he represented the “real” ANC, not the current leadership under President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Zuma has 21 days to appeal his expulsion with the ANC’s National Committee of Appeal.