ANC puts Zuma hearing on ice amid fears of violence
● The highly anticipated disciplinary hearing of former ANC president Jacob Zuma was postponed yesterday until after the elections amid fears in Luthuli House that it could spark violent clashes.
If the party’s national disciplinary committee (NDC) finds against Zuma, he would be the most prominent ANC member and the first former leader ever to be expelled.
Zuma has been charged with misconduct for publicly stating that he intends to vote for the rival MK Party. Other counts against him include urging his supporters to oust the ANC in the elections at the end of the month and appearing on the MK Party’s list of parliamentary candidates.
Although Zuma is now the official leader of the MK Party, he has not resigned from the ANC. He has repeatedly told his followers he will remain in the party till he dies.
The MK Party had planned to bus in supporters to show their backing for Zuma at the disciplinary hearing. The Sunday Times has learnt that ANC supporters in turn had planned to convene at Luthuli House from tomorrow “to protect the building”.
“There was going to be a confrontation,” said an insider.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula yesterday wrote to the chair of the NDC, Ralph Mgijima, advising him to postpone the hearing for security reasons.
“Based on an assessment of the security situation prevailing at Luthuli House, we are advised that activities, including disciplinary hearings, that attract large gatherings, are not advisable as they have the potential to result in violence, especially so close to the national and provincial elections scheduled for May 29.
“Accordingly the ANC officials have decided that such activities should be held in abeyance until after the elections, this includes the NDC hearing of JG Zuma,” wrote Mbalula.
He told the Sunday Times: “A security issue was raised and we were advised not to hold the hearing.”
The ANC suspended Zuma in January after he told a media briefing on December 16, Reconciliation Day, that he would vote for the MK Party as he did not believe in the “ANC of [President Cyril] Ramaphosa”.
The party charged Zuma with contravening section 25.17 of its constitution. His charge sheet, drawn up by the NDC, lists two main counts and three alternative counts.
Signed by senior ANC official Uriel Abrahamse, Zuma’s charge sheet spells out the findings of the national executive committee (NEC) in regard to his backing for the MK Party.
“The NEC, acting in terms of rule 25.9 of the ANC constitution, is satisfied that the institution of disciplinary proceedings against you is warranted in respect of your misconduct in breach of the code of conduct referred to in rule 25.17 and hereby exercises its right to institute disciplinary proceedings against you and to refer the matter to the NDC,” it reads.
The first count against Zuma is that on December 16 last year “you addressed the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party in Soweto
and you called on all South Africans to join you in dislodging the ANC as the ruling party”.
The first alternative charge reads: “When you addressed the MK Party in Soweto on or around December 16 2023, you declared your intention to vote for the MK Party and actively canvassed for the MK Party by calling on all South Africans to vote for the MK Party.”
The second alternative charge is that on the same occasion “you pledged not to campaign for the ANC (or ANC of Ramaphosa, as you describe it) in 2024, contrary to what you undertook when you took the [ANC] membership oath”.
The second count Zuma faces is that he has joined and is a supporting a party other than the ANC or its alliance partners, “in that you appeared on the list for public representatives of the MK Party, contrary to the rule because the MKP is not an organisation that is in an alliance with the ANC”.
Zuma’s name is at the top of the MK Party list of prospective MPs.
The alternative charge says: “You consented to having your name on the MK Party list of public representatives, thereby standing in opposition to candidates already endorsed by the NEC”.
The ANC allows dual membership of the SACP and the South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco). Until recently, Zuma was provincial chair of Sanco in KwaZuluNatal. He is also believed to have held SACP membership until 1989.
Former president Thabo Mbeki, at a campaign event this week, said the ANC was correct to proceed with Zuma’s disciplinary hearing ahead of the elections even if it meant losing votes.
Answering a question about his relationship with Zuma and Ramaphosa, Mbeki said: “Historically my relations with my colleagues, my comrades have been OK. But where something goes radically wrong, like in the case of Jacob Zuma, of course relationships must change radically with regard to that.
“I work very well with comrade Ramaphosa, you will have seen for instance that when I delivered this address on the 30 years of South African democracy, I cited some of the things he’s been saying and doing, because they are correct. So, there’s no problem there.”
He said he particularly opposed the way Zuma was actively campaigning to dislodge the ANC from power.
“You can’t act the way he has acted and hope to maintain an old relationship, so he has broken that relationship,” said Mbeki.
“You can’t campaign against the ANC and pretend that the ANC belongs to Ramaphosa, [Zuma] knows very well it does not belong to any Ramaphosa, it belongs to people, it belongs to the membership, it belongs to the country.
“But deliberately he goes out and does a very wrong thing and necessarily that means there will be a rupture. There will be a rupture. We can’t, there’s no way you can continue to deal with a person like that and call them comrade because they’re not comrades. Not anymore.”
Zuma would be the second prominent ANC leader to be expelled by the Mgijima committee. His ally Ace Magashule, who has since started his own party, was drummed out last year, as was another Zuma ally, Carl Niehaus.
Niehaus has since joined the EFF led by Julius Malema, who was expelled from the ANC in 2012 when Zuma was still president.
Additional reporting by Sibongakonke Shoba