WATCH | Zuma tells MK Party supporters to vote for ANC in speech blunder

“His heart is still with the ANC.”

That was the general reaction as former president Jacob Zuma had a slip of the tongue and encouraged a crowd to vote for the governing party while addressing an Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party branch launch in Nkandla. 

Zuma was speaking at an MK Party branch launch on Monday in his hometown when he made the blunder.  

“They have made this thing easy; they do not say take arms [and fight]. Just go and vote for ANC, no, not ANC ...  sorry,” he said, leaving the crowd laughing as he corrected himself. 

The former president last December publicly announced he would not vote or campaign for the ANC during the 2024 national elections but instead for the new kid on the block, MK Party.   

“In 2024 I will vote for Umkhonto we Sizwe [MK] party. I have decided that I cannot and will not campaign for the ANC of [president Cyril] Ramaphosa. It is not the ANC I joined; it will be a betrayal to campaign for the ANC of Ramaphosa. My conscience will not allow that,” Zuma said in an announcement that caused tensions for him with the ANC.

The ANC leadership has been adamant that Zuma’s public announcement marked his exit from the party, but the former party president insists he remains a party member.

On Sunday, Zuma addressed a crowd in Pietermaritzburg and said: “I will vote for MK, but I will not leave the ANC, I will die there. The ANC is different from other political parties. It was built by our ancestors, religious leaders and intellectuals as a party opposing white people who did not want us to have rights.”

While Zuma pronounced he would die an ANC member, some members of the party paraded a makeshift coffin on which was written “RIP Zuma” at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday during the ANC's January 8 speech celebrations.

Zuma’s recent slip-up sparked debate on social media, with many people saying he should be forgiven as “his heart is still with the ANC”.

Here are some reactions from social media:   

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