Durban — Jacob Zuma’s decades-long membership of the ANC was abruptly terminated by the party’s national disciplinary committee (NDC) after he ditched the organisation and led the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) party in December.
After Zuma publicly endorsed the MKP in December, the ANC, a party that he led for 10 years as president from 2007 to 2017, hauled him over the coals.
In a statement that was released on Sunday, the ANC said: “The charged member (Zuma) is found guilty of contravening the Rule 25.17.17 of the ANC constitution, read with subsection (2), for prejudicing the integrity of or the repute of the organisation by acting in collaboration with a registered political party to wit the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, which is not in alliance with the ANC, in a manner contrary to the aims, policies and objectives of the ANC.”
The statement went further saying Zuma, 82, who claims that he joined the ANC when he was just 17 years old, has been expelled from the party.
“In the view of the NDC, organisational discipline is the glue that keeps the ANC together and focused on its stated objective of creating a better life for all.
“The charged member had placed himself in an invidious position by adopting the position of leading a political party which is not in alliance with the ANC and simultaneously wanting to remain as a member of the ANC.”
The statement added: “In the NDC’s view, it placed him (Zuma) in direct conflict with the ANC constitution which does not permit dual membership with parties not in alliance with the ANC. The ANC feels so strongly about this that Rule 25.17.13 of the constitution makes it an expellable offence for a member to join or supports a political organisation or party not in alliance with the ANC.”
Then came the hammer blow: “In the circumstances, the only sanction the NDC can impose is that of expulsion.”
However, Zuma can still appeal his expulsion within 21 days if he still wants to retain his membership of the ANC.
The disciplinary committee was chaired by ANC veteran Enver Surty.
Zuma was represented by his ally and ANC stalwart Tony Yengeni.
Zuma’s MKP won 58 seats in the 400-member National Assembly and raked in 37 seats in the 80-seater KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature.
The eight-member disciplinary committee included Faith Muthambi, Nocawe Mafu and Robinson Ramaite.
In its finding, the committee said: “After admitting that he was aware of the registration of uMkhonto weSizwe as a political party with the Electoral Commission of South Africa and gave it his blessing, the charged member (Zuma) maintained that he was still a member of the ANC and would die as a member of the ANC.”
The committee added: “The NDC is of the view that the charged member’s anger against the ANC overcame his emotional attachment to the organisation and blinded him from seeing the contradictory position he had placed himself in.
“As torturous as it may be for the charged member to find himself outside the ANC after devoting more than six decades of his life to the organisation at great personal sacrifice, it would not be permissible for him to be a member of the MK Party and the ANC at the same time.”
Zuma’s steady rise in the ANC has come to a halt.
Like many ANC veterans, Zuma had spent 10 years on Robben Island. He held the position of head of intelligence in Lusaka, Zambia, the party’s then headquarters during apartheid.
When the ANC and its alliance partner, the SACP, were unbanned in 1990 by apartheid president FW de Klerk, Zuma and his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and incumbent ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa were part of the negotiating team with the apartheid government, with Nelson Mandela leading the talks.
From then, Zuma became a popular figure in political circles.
He played a key role in re-establishing peace in KZN in peace talks between the IFP and the ANC. It helped to have a Zulu negotiator representing the ANC in the region instead of Mandela or Mbeki, who are both Xhosa.
After democracy was achieved in 1994, Zuma was deployed as the MEC for Economic Development and Tourism in KZN.
At the time, he also held the position of national chairperson of the party.
In the 1997 elective conference in Mahikeng, Zuma was elected as the party’s deputy president, with his long-time ally-cum-foe, Mbeki, being the president.
In 2005, Zuma was sacked by Mbeki following allegations that he was involved in a corrupt relationship with his then-financial adviser, Schabir Shaik. The allegations continue to hover over his head as opposition parties push for Zuma to have his day in court over the 783 corruption charges against him.
In 2007, Zuma challenged Mbeki at the watershed Polokwane elective conference and won. The next year, the ANC’s highest authority, the national executive committee (NEC), led by Zuma, recalled Mbeki.
Kgalema Motlanthe took over as interim president while Zuma fought to clear his name.
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