The African National Congress (ANC) has suspended its former controversial president Jacob Zuma who formed uMkhonto weSizwe political party which has embarked on contesting the ruling party during the general elections this year.
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula said ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) took a decision to discipline and separate with Zuma because he is a counterrevolutionary force who has publicly announced that he will not vote for the ANC but his newly formed MK party. The ANC announced that it is also legaly challenging the use of the label uMkhonto weSizwe by Zuma and his allies because it is the property of the ANC which is associated with its history.
Following a three-day meeting, at the Birchwood Hotel in OR Tambo Conference Centre, the ANC NEC invoked Rule 25.60 of the ANC constitution to suspend Zuma. Mbalula said the rule will not allow Zuma the opportunity to respond to the ANC NEC decision as it was final.
Zuma will not return to the Union Building to contest his political rival President Cyril Ramaphosa because he has a criminal record. He has been campaigning for his MK party since December. Zuma has been publicly depicting himself as invisible, untouchable and pompously saying he is still a member of the ANC and wants to fix the “ANC of Ramaphosa” despite his appalling 9-year tenure as SA president with his dubious relationship with the controversial Gupta family which attempted to capture the state.
Zuma who is seen as egocentric political leader who only cares about himself and his family by ANC leadership in KZN has labelled President Ramaphosa as an agent of the white monopoly capital. He publicly said: “I cannot, and will not, campaign for the ANC of Ramaphosa.”
Mbalula said: “The NEC concluded that exceptional circumstances exist to justify and warrant an immediate decision to suspend former ANC President JG Zuma. The formation of the MK party is not an accident. It is a deliberate attempt to use the proud history of armed struggle against the apartheid regime to lend credibility to what is a blatantly counter-revolutionary agenda.”
“It was the sacred ground rule of Umkhonto weSizwe, the glorious people’s army which all its members were taught, that this army was established to advance the political goals of the ANC. It implemented what the ANC NEC instructed it to do.”
Meanwhile, Zuma who received a presidential pardon from the man he hates the most President Ramaphosa regrettably will have to wait until 2029 to contest the general elections because he has not finished five years out of jail term.
He returned to the same Correctional Services centre just for his remission to be administered in August last year.
According to Section 47(e) of the country’s Constitution, every citizen who is qualified to vote for the National Assembly is eligible to be a member of the Assembly, except anyone who, after this section took effect, is convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months' imprisonment without the option of a fine, either in the Republic, or outside if the conduct constituting the offence would have been an offence in the Republic.
Recently, the provincial secretary of ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, Bheki Mtolo lambasted former president Jacob Zuma, labelling him a liability who gave President Cyril Ramaphosa a weak ANC after his tenure.
Mtolo didn’t mince his words when reprimanding Zuma saying he must apologize to Ramaphosa because former president Thabo Mbeki gave him a strong ANC. He said Zuma contributed to the ruling party’s downfall and failures during Ramaphosa’s term as the Commander in Chief of the country and ANC president.
Mtolo described Zuma as a self-centred leader, a good singer and dancer who only worked for his family and not the people.
The ANC secretary in KZN said Ramaphosa may not be a good singer and dancer, but he is a consummate leader who ensured that the lives of the people are improved by benefiting from government administration.
He said Ramaphosa is the champion of the poor, not Zuma emphasising that the people of Nkandla don't relate with him. The ANC KZN leader said the community of Nkandla observed a man who was there for himself and his family. Mtolo added that Zuma built his home with taxpayers’ money and was told to pay it back adding that the people of Nkandla will now vote for the ANC because the self-serving politician has left the ANC.
In line with the Constitutional Court's judgement, Zuma repaid the state for the non-security upgrades priced at R7.81 million by the National Treasury in September 2016.
ANC SG says Zuma actions are counterrevolutionary.
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