- South Africa's ANC withdraws ex-President Zuma from membership
South Africa's ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), has revoked the membership of former president Jacob Zuma. A disciplinary committee of the ANC decided that the formation of a new party by an ANC member just weeks before the May parliamentary elections violated the party's constitution. Zuma (82) has 21 days to appeal the decision.
Zuma's uMkhonto we Sizwe party (MK), founded in December 2023, received 14 percent of the votes in the May elections. Meanwhile, the ANC suffered a significant loss, securing only around 40 percent - a drop of about 17 percentage points from the previous election in 2019. This marked the first time in 30 years that the ANC could not form a government on its own and had to enter into a coalition. Political commentators attribute this historic loss of power to the reformation of the MK, among other factors.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula explained that the committee's decision to expel Zuma from the party was based on the new party being "dangerous and appealing to extremists." He further stated that the MK has the potential to destabilize South Africa's political landscape.
Zuma was a long-standing member of the ANC and served as South Africa's president from 2009 to 2018. He resigned from office due to severe corruption allegations. In 2021, Zuma was sentenced to a 15-month imprisonment, which sparked widespread unrest resulting in 350 deaths and hundreds of shops being looted and set on fire. Since then, Zuma has been seen as a powerful politician who, according to critics, is not afraid to use violence to achieve his political goals.
The disciplinary committee's decision to revoke Zuma's [Membership] in the ANC was primarily due to his formation of the uMkhonto we Sizwe party, which violated the party's constitution. After being expelled, Zuma continued his political pursuits with his new party, the MK, which received significant support in the May elections, potentially threatening the stability of South Africa's political landscape.
