The ANC has served its former president and now leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, Jacob Zuma, with a notice to appear before a disciplinary hearing for contravening party rules.
Zuma is technically still a member of the ANC although he was suspended from the party in January, after he announced his support of the MK party in December.
The move to bring him before a disciplinary committee ahead of the May 29 polls signals the ANC’s eagerness to resolve the Zuma and MK problem. According to the latest survey by global market research company Ipsos, the newly formed party may shave off a significant share of the governing party’s vote. The poll shows the EFF receiving 11.5% of the vote and MK 8.4%.
Zuma is accused of contravening rule 25 of the ANC constitution, which bars party members from organising or participating in the activities of another political party that is not in alliance with the ANC.
Zuma tops the MK party list to parliament, which is also a contravention of the ANC’s constitution. The former president’s candidacy is, however, being challenged by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) in the Constitutional Court after an earlier ruling by the electoral court that upheld a decision by the MK party to include Zuma in its list of candidates to parliament.
The IEC argues that the former president is ineligible to stand as a candidate because of his criminal record stemming from his conviction and 15-month prison sentence imposed by the Constitutional Court in 2021.
The disciplinary hearing is set for May 7 at the ANC’s headquarters in Johannesburg, just three days before the Constitutional Court is set to hear the IEC’s case against Zuma’s candidacy. “Should you not appear at the venue on the date and time determined for the hearing (or not avail yourself if the hearing is conducted virtually) or remain in attendance as required by the chair of the national disciplinary committee, the chair is satisfied that you were timeously notified of such venue, date and time or details of the virtual hearing [and] may order that proceedings continue in your absence.”
The MK voting pool is similar to that of the ANC, which is facing its toughest election yet as the electorate has grown tired of the ANC’s underwhelming performance in government.
According to the Ipsos survey, ANC support could fall to 40.2%, an untenable situation that could force it to enter into a coalition with smaller parties. The poll found the ANC is struggling to impress voters and its support base is concentrated in rural areas.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula previously noted that although Zuma has not yet been formally expelled from the party “he has now completely left and defined himself outside”.
“You must expect that Zuma has been playing these tactics because he wants to say he was expelled when he has expelled himself from the party. So, that tactic equally works for him in galvanising the victim syndrome approach of Jacob Zuma, so to say because he thrives on that, he wants to say he was expelled ... so what we will not do, we will not stop what we are doing and basically convene on Zuma who has left the ANC. He’s not a member,” Mbalula said.
Meanwhile, the MK party, which shares the same name as the disbanded military wing of the ANC, has recently been rocked by a wave of expulsions of senior leaders. This includes founder Jabulani Khumalo and four other members.
The party attributed this action to “cleansing” itself of rogue elements.
“At a meeting held by the national leadership core, and in light of the attempts by external forces to destabilise the MK party, whose aim is to advance a revolution of the people, the national leadership core has taken a decision to expel these comrades,” party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said in a statement.
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