Zuma as good as left ANC — Mbalula
Secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the former president ‘has taken a decision to leave the party’
● As the fallout spreads over Jacob Zuma’s decision to endorse a splinter party ahead of the 2024 elections, ANC veterans have labelled the former president’s actions as “treason and treachery”, while secretary-general Fikile Mbalula hinted he is regarded as having quit the governing party.
Mbalula on Thursday told the Sunday Times that while there were no immediate plans to place the Zuma matter on the agenda of the ANC’s first national executive committee (NEC) meeting for 2024, scheduled for next week, the view was that Zuma has “taken a decision to leave the ANC”.
The NEC, its highest decision-making body between national conferences, is meeting to finalise preparations for the ANC’s 112th birthday bash, due to take place in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, on January 13.
“We have not discussed Zuma and he is not on the agenda for the NEC next week.
“We have noted his statements and at an appropriate time, we will respond. He has taken a decision to leave the ANC and vote [for the] MK party,” said Mbalula.
Zuma stunned many South Africans last week when he announced he would vote for the Umkhonto we Sizwe Party. He said he was not renouncing his ANC membership but he accused the ruling party of having lost its way under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The ANC Veterans League wants Mbalula’s office to take strong action because Zuma’s behaviour was tantamount to “treason and treachery.”
“We are appealing to the secretary of the ANC to take him to task using rule 25.5 of the constitution of the ANC, which makes it very clear that you cannot support another party,” said veterans league president Snuki Zikalala.
Zuma has brought the ANC into disrepute and “strong action should be taken against him”, but the league would leave it to the party’s disciplinary committee or Mbalula to decide how to proceed.
“Let them take the appropriate action,” Zikalala said. He said whatever action was decided upon should be severe enough to act as a deterrent to anyone in the party who was thinking of following Zuma’s example and undermining the election campaign.
The veterans league president said the ANC must not allow the legacy and heritage of the real MK to be “stolen and used for nefarious reasons”.
However, he indicated that the league was willing to make an approach to Zuma if the party thought that was the correct course.
“We have not called him yet, but we are contemplating doing that, we just wanted to first get direction from the secretary-general and the ANC.”
The ANC has threatened to take legal action against the MK Party, saying it had no right to use the name or symbols of the now
disbanded military group. It sent the new party a legal letter last week, giving it until close of business on December 29 to cease and desist.
But Zuma appears unfazed. This week he addressed an MK Party rally in Durban where he continued his anti-ANC rhetoric, threatening to spill secrets about those who have condemned his decision to shun the ruling party.
Other parties are also feeling the fallout from Zuma’s declaration. On Tuesday, the Patriotic Alliance — which is in municipal coalitions with the ANC in Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Nelson Mandela Bay, said it had expelled Bonginkosi Khanyile, its candidate for premier of KwaZulu-Natal, after he appeared with Zuma at the MK Party event in Durban.
Khanyile said on Thursday he would make a pronouncement on his political future shortly. “All I can say is that I love Zuma,” he said.
The ANC in the eThekwini region is also conducting an investigation after some of its members were seen with Zuma this week, the party’s spokesperson in the province, Mafika Mndebele, said.
“The region received a complaint that one of its members, who is a branch executive committee member, was seen with former president Zuma wearing an MK T-shirt.
The regional secretary wrote to his local structures asking them if there are any members of the ANC who are part of the MK Party,” Mndebele said.
“For our part, we do not have a problem with the region assessing the impact of MK in its structures. But we are convinced that … if any, the impact will be minimal. There is no panic at all.”
He said there was no reason to think the emergence of the MK Party and Zuma’s backing for it would lead to political violence.
“The ANC constitution is very clear, it does not allow you to join or campaign for any other party while you are a member, those members would be breaking the rules,” he said.
“The ANC has every right to assess the state of its machinery.
“There won’t be any violence and we do not foresee any political tension because of the exercise.” Asked what action should be taken against Zuma, Mndebele said the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal would await the NEC’s decision.
“President Zuma is a former president and as a result an ex officio member of the NEC, he is a property of the NEC and not the province, so as a province we have not taken any action nor written to national about the matter. Largely, the structures in KwaZulu-Natal are intact, there is no panic over the MK Party.”
MK Party founder Jabulani Khumalo told his supporters this week that they would fight the ANC’s cease and desist demand in court if necessary.
“As Umkhonto we Sizwe Party, we are registered. I often hear them say that we are not registered but we are, we have a certificate that shows that MK is a political party and not an association.”
The South African National Civic Organisation (Sanco) in KwaZulu-Natal, of which Zuma is chair, said its constitution did not allow it to oust him from the position.
Sizwe Cele, secretary of Sanco in the province, said Zuma was permitted to campaign for whichever political party he wanted to.
“We reaffirm our view that Zuma is more of an ANC leader than [a Sanco leader]. The strength and popularity that he is using to canvass today for MK, he gained it from the ANC and he continues to be a member of the ANC NEC.”
Cele said Sanco would throw its weight behind the ANC in the elections, “and Zuma has no power to try to coerce or convince us to vote for MK”.