South Africa’s ANC kicks former president Jacob Zuma out of party he once led

South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been expelled from the African National Congress (ANC), the party he once led.

“Former President Jacob Zuma has actively impugned the integrity of the ANC,” ANC Secretary General Comrade Fikile Mbalula outlined at a press briefing on Monday.

“This conduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organization discipline and letter of the ANC constitution,” Mbalula said, adding that former President Zuma has been running on a dangerous platform that casts doubts on our entire constitutional edifice,”

The expulsion comes after the ANC announced it had suspended Zuma’s membership on January 29 this year, following Zuma’s declaration of support for a newly formed rival political party, uMkhonto WeSizwe Party (MK party), in December 2023.

In January, the ANC stated that the party is dedicated to nurturing and, when required, correcting its members and leaders.

However, as their renewal efforts intensify, individuals like Zuma, whose actions conflict with the party’s values and principles, will find themselves excluded from the ANC.

Mbalula said Zuma has 21 days to appeal the decision.

A series of scandals

Zuma was forced to resign as president in 2018 after a series of corruption scandals and internal infighting in the ANC. He was found guilty of contempt of court by the constitutional court for his refusal to testify to an anti-corruption commission.

In May, the same court ruled unanimously that Zuma was not eligible to run for parliament in the country’s critical general election, capping months of long speculation and legal wrangling on whether the former leader of the ruling ANC would be able to stand for the country’s top legislative body.

Yet, while he was barred from running in this May’s general election, his face remained on the ballot paper for the MK party.

The ANC lost its majority for the first time in 30 years in that election, marking the biggest political shift in the country since the end of apartheid. Support for the ANC dropped to 40.18%, a huge slump from the 57.5% it received in the last election in 2019.

The official opposition party, the centrist Democratic Alliance (DA), received 21.8% of the vote. While Zuma’s MK had nearly 14.59% of the vote.