ANC Eastern Cape secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi
(X)
ANC Eastern Cape secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi believes that if the party had taken heed of the province’s advice to suspend former president Jacob Zuma, the formation of his uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party could have been avoided.
However, speaking to the Mail & Guardian on Monday, Ngcukayitobi said the provincial leadership did not regard the MK party as a threat that would take votes away from the ANC in the elections.
The ANC’s head of elections, Mdumiseni Ntuli, previously told the Mail & Guardian that MK was a danger to the ruling party and its rival, the Inkatha Freedom Party, in KwaZulu-Natal.
Ntuli’s statements came after the MK party stunned its detractors by attracting votes away from the ANC and IFP in by-elections earlier in the year.
Polling by the Social Research Foundation and Ipsos has suggested that the new party could take a considerable chunk of the ANC’s votes in the elections. The MK party is reportedly attempting to build structures in the Eastern Cape.
“There is no MK that can influence the people of Eastern Cape. We have said it a long time ago that Zuma, his conduct and how he presents himself cannot be left unattended,” Ngcukayitobi told the M&G, adding that the ANC must not tolerate wrongdoing and those who damaged its moral standing.
Zuma, who has publicly stated that he is still a member, has been charged by the ANC with two counts of contravening its constitution in his activities with the MK party. Should he be found guilty, the party’s constitution states that he can be expelled.
In 2021, after Zuma refused to appear before the state capture commission for cross-examination, the party’s Eastern Cape leadership condemned his defiance and called for his suspension from the party.
While Luthuli House kept silent on Zuma’s actions, with some defending him, Ngcukayitobi publicly stated at the time that the ANC should institute an internal disciplinary hearing against the veteran politician “for openly defying the constitutional court ruling to participate in the commission”.
At the time, the province also suggested that a suspension of Zuma’s membership should be looked into.
“We called for disciplinary action against Zuma. We called for his suspension from the ANC and many people criticised us for speaking up against the misconduct of Jacob Zuma … We spoke about those particular matters,” Ngcukayitobi said on Monday.
“People of the Eastern Cape rejected Jacob Zuma. That is why, in 2017 and 2022, the ANC in the Eastern Cape, in its conference, endorsed a renewal agenda as it was at the forefront of the necessity to renew the organisation …”
The MK party has claimed that part of its purpose is to save the ANC. During his announcement that he would endorse the new party, Zuma said the ANC should remove his political rival, President Cyril Ramaphosa, if it wanted to regain his vote.
Ngcukayitobi said the MK party had attracted questionable characters, adding that the people of the province were aware that Zuma’s new party was not a product of the ANC and that they had not been sold on the former president’s campaign.
“People of the Eastern Cape know the ANC, they know what is expected of the ANC, they know how the ANC should be structured and they know the character of the ANC. They know how the ANC leaders should behave. That is why the population of the Eastern Cape has directed that the ANC must reject Zuma,” he said.