'Grossly ill-disciplined' Zuma has divorced party, says ANC KZN

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal says the party’s former president Jacob Zuma served divorce papers when he announced he will neither vote nor campaign for the organisation in next year’s general elections.

“When you are married and your wife says ‘I still love you’ but is married to another man, there’s no need for divorce, she has already divorced you. Then you would be engaging in a futile exercise, she has already chosen her path,” said ANC KZN secretary Bheki Mtolo in response to a question on whether they would call for Zuma’s expulsion.

The provincial ANC leadership, with other mass democratic movement organisations including Cosatu, SA Communist Party, SA National Civics Organisation and student formations SA Students Congress and the Congress of SA Students, addressed journalists on Monday to react to Zuma’s weekend announcement.

Mtolo said Zuma’s statement that he will vote for a new party called Umkhonto we Sizwe and his call to South Africans to vote for the party formed with his blessings, was “decampaigning” the ANC.

The ANC and aligned formations met on Monday to discuss Zuma’s announcement.

“We admitted in our meeting that leaders of the ANC, especially former presidents, have in the past voiced their concerns about weaknesses in the ANC,” he said.

“Former and current leaders of the ANC have publicly raised concerns about the shortcomings of ANC leaders at all levels. There have been concerns as well about the quality of our membership.

“However, it should be noted with concern this is the first time in 111 years of the ANC’s existence that a former president and leader of our movement announces publicly his decision to vote for another party and effectively campaign for that party which we view as divorcing the ANC and leaving the ANC [for] another political formation.”

Mtolo described Zuma’s action as tantamount to gross ill-discipline.

He noted that as an ex officio member of the party’s national executive committee, only the national leadership can take action against Zuma.

“With the appreciation that every member of the ANC comes as an individual member, joins the organisation voluntarily and leaves the organisation voluntarily at his or her behest.”

Mtolo also discounted Zuma’s assertion that the ANC government is led by sell-outs and apartheid collaborators, saying Zuma had appointed six of the ANC’s top seven leaders to senior positions in government.

“The President [Cyril Ramaphosa] was appointed by Zuma in 2014 as the deputy president of the republic. It tells you that with his experience, somebody who was director of intelligence in the ANC and was underground ... there is no way he would betray the struggle and appoint an apartheid collaborator. He could not have done that,” said Mtolo.

“Same with the Deputy President [Paul Mashatile]. He appointed him minister of arts and culture, Gwede Mantashe was his secretary-general for two terms, Nomvula [Mokonyane] was a premier and later a minister of water and sanitation and [Fikile] Mbalula was minister of police. You can’t give someone minister of police and yet you know he was an apartheid collaborator.

“If you look at the cabinet, almost less than 30% of the people there were not appointed by Zuma. From this evidence, it tells you that maybe it was a slip of the tongue, I don’t think he means it, otherwise we would be disappointed that he himself appointed apartheid collaborators in various institutions of the state.”

Mtolo said their meeting also resolved that it is going to be important for the party to explain the difference between Zuma’s Umkhonto we Sizwe party and the well-known Umkhonto we Sizwe that was the military wing of the ANC, as this could cause confusion for members and voters of the ANC.

The KwaZulu-Natal leadership has previously staunchly supported Zuma, a position the provincial leadership said it did not regret.

Recent by-elections results have shown the ANC remains the hope of voters in the province and “we hope that going to 2024, the ANC is still in a better shape, not only to defend KwaZulu-Natal, but to make sure it contributes significantly for the defence of the revolution in South Africa”.

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