
Faith Nyasuguta
Former South African President Jacob Zuma has been expelled from the African National Congress (ANC) after he endorsed a rival political party, contributing to the ANC’s loss of its parliamentary majority in recent national elections.
The ANC announced on Monday, “Former President Jacob Zuma has actively impugned the integrity of the ANC and campaigned to dislodge the ANC from power, while claiming that he had not severed his membership.”
The ANC, which had governed South Africa since the country’s first fully democratic elections in 1994, saw its support plummet from 57.5% in 2019 to 40.2% in the recent elections. The decline was attributed to dissatisfaction with public services and high unemployment rates.

Additionally, a notable portion of the ANC’s voter base shifted allegiance to Zuma’s new party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK). Named after the ANC’s armed wing during the apartheid era, the MK party emerged as the third-largest party, securing 14.6% of the vote.
Zuma, 82, served as president from 2009 until his resignation in 2018 amid corruption allegations. Analysts viewed the launch of the MK party in December as an effort to retaliate against Cyril Ramaphosa, Zuma’s successor as ANC leader and South Africa’s president. The MK party criticized the ANC for conducting a “kangaroo court” and stated that Zuma would consult his legal team regarding his next steps.
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula remarked at a press conference, “We don’t know why you [set up a new] party and then argue for your membership when you have taken a conscious decision to leave the ANC. You have brought us below 50%. We are grappling with that.”
The MK party’s election manifesto indicated a desire to secure a two-thirds majority to amend the constitution, aiming to establish parliament as the supreme authority in the country. It also proposed nationalizing banks and expropriating land without compensation.

A judicial inquiry accused Zuma of replacing capable officials with loyalists and manipulating the awarding of large contracts to benefit Indian businessmen brothers Atul, Ajay, and Rajesh Gupta, in a scandal known as “state capture.” Zuma is also scheduled to go on trial next year for allegedly accepting bribes in a 1999 arms deal, charges he has consistently denied.
The ANC stated that Zuma has 21 days to appeal his expulsion.
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