Kasrils backs ANC dissidents in protest against Zuma

A pillar of the armed struggle against apartheid is appealing to disillusioned South Africans to show their opposition to the re-election of President Jacob Zuma by spoiling their ballots in next month’s election.

Ronnie Kasrils, who was head of intelligence for the military wing of the African National Congress, will sign up to a statement that will denounce his old party for “self-enrichment and power mongering“.

Disillusioned ANC loyalists call themselves the “Sidikwe” - or the “fed up” in Xhosa. Their statement describes the fate of the party under Zuma’s leadership as a “profound tragedy“, adding: “Corruption, cronyism, control over the public debate have spread like a cancer though the ANC, and because of this through government and state institutions.”

Kasrils’ endorsement of this statement shows how support for the party has fractured since Mr Zuma became president in 2009. “The ANC has had 20 years to prove itself. If it hasn’t proved [itself] then I’m saying: ‘Listen to your head and your heart’,” he said.

Kasrils, 75, joined the ANC in around 1960. He spent several years in hiding or in exile, for some of that time in London where he was a central figure in the ANC’s support network.

The latest scandal involving Zuma centres on the use of £14?million of taxpayers’ money to upgrade his private home. Thuli Madonsela, the public protector, concluded that the president and his family had personally and unlawfully benefited from this expenditure. She ordered Zuma to repay some of the money. He refused.

Kasrils was a member of the ANC government for 14 years, serving as intelligence minister between 2004 and 2008. His colleagues in the “Fed Up” group are believed to include others who risked their lives or were tortured and imprisoned during the anti-apartheid struggle.

“The ruling elite are living increasingly opulent lifestyles,” reads their statement. “Only a few in our society are doing well and a small minority continue to own and control the economy and resources of our country.”

Aubrey Matshiqi, a research fellow at the Helen Suzman Foundation, predicted the protest would damage Zuma. The former loyalists are “concerned about the gap between the ideals of the ANC and what it has become“, he said.