The ANC has confirmed that it has finally expelled its former president, Jacob Zuma. (Oupa Nkosi)
The ANC has confirmed that it has finally expelled its former president, Jacob Zuma, for founding and campaigning for the breakaway uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party in violation of its constitution.
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula told a media briefing at its Luthuli House headquarters that the party’s national disciplinary committee had found Zuma guilty on two counts and had ruled that he be expelled.
Mbalula said Zuma had “actively impugned the integrity of the ANC and campaigned to dislodge the ANC from power, while claiming that he had not severed his membership”.
“This conduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organisational discipline and letter of the ANC constitution,” he added.
The party’s national executive committee (NEC) charged Zuma after he launched the MK party on 16 December last year, but the disciplinary process was deferred until after the 29 May elections.
The hearings, at which Zuma was represented by ANC member Tony Yengeni, were held virtually, despite the former head of state’s insistence on an in-person process and members of MK arriving at ANC headquarters to stage protests.
The final decision to expel Zuma was taken on 28 July. It was transmitted to the ANC leadership and to the former president the following day.
Mbalula said Zuma had 21 days within which to appeal the decision should he wish to do so.
He said Zuma was not only guilty of violating the ANC’s constitution, but was also “running on a dangerous platform that casts doubt on our entire constitutional edifice.”
Not only had he “meted out a host of anti-revolutionary outbursts,” but he also intentionally undermined the credibility of the courts and the judicial system, institutions which were “consciously embedded into our constitutional dispensation by the ANC”.
“His platform is dangerous, appeals to extremist instincts in our body politic and riles up a political base that may foment social unrest,” Mbalula said.
The party had “never thought a former president would form a party and campaign against the ANC”, which had, in part, contributed to its approach in dealing with his case, Mbalula said.
Zuma had gone “many steps further” by forming the MK party and going to court to fight for its leadership, a clear indication of his intentions. Mbalula said the task of dealing with the former president had “not been an easy one” but the party had felt it necessary to do so because Zuma’s ANC membership had still been valid until December.
“The NEC reflected on the matter and took a decision that we must charge Jacob Zuma. That is what we have done and this is the final part to it,” he said.
“Jacob Zuma impugned the ANC. He brought us below 50%. He has done everything. We are grappling with that now … we are dealing with the consequences of Jacob Zuma’s actions against the ANC.”
Mbalula said Zuma had wanted an in-person hearing to disrupt the ANC and to gain publicity.
“He wanted a movie. He wanted a rally. Even when they were told that the DC ]disciplinary committee] is virtual, they still came here. Jacob Zuma wanted a rally — he didn’t want to come and defend himself,” Mbalula said.
In a statement, MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the organisation was considering taking legal action to challenge the outcome.
Ndhlela described the ANC disciplinary committee as a “kangaroo court” and questioned why the decision was leaked before the MK party was informed.
Ndhlela said neither Zuma nor his representative, Yengeni, had received a written notice of the decision, which was a “stark violation” of the ANC’s constitution and that of the country.
Ndhlela said no person could be “sentenced in their absence” and that the ANC’s conduct was an attempt to “undermine” Zuma and a continuation of the “apartheid style and trend” of persecution of the MK party leader.
“This leak is not an isolated incident but the climax of a series of repressive actions that disturbingly echo tactics once used during apartheid — an era from which the ANC leadership under Ramaphosa and its coalition partners, the DA, seem to have drawn inspiration,” Ndhlela said.