Zuma Dumps ANC: Says He Won’t Campaign For Ramaphosa’s ANC, Instead Plans To Vote For uMkhontho weSizwe
South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has dumped the African National Congress (ANC) and said that he will not campaign for the party ahead of the 2024 elections.
Zuma says he will, however, remain a member of the revolutionary party but will vote for the newly registered uMkhonto Wesizwe party, the former military wing of the ANC.
“It would be a betrayal to campaign for the ANC under Ramaphosa,” he said.
He further stated that he would not be voting for the ANC but for the newly registered uMkhonto Wesizwe party.
In a statement read by his daughter Dudu Zuma-Sambudla, Zuma said, “The ANC has been reduced to an organization hardly respected by those it sought to liberate. It’s clear they’re disappointed by the party’s conduct under the current leadership. An open communication line from the ground up was always available. This is not the ANC we were willing to sacrifice our lives for.
”Why Zuma is abandoning ANC:
During his time at Robben Island, Zuma said that discipline in the ANC was at its highest, something that is not part of the culture under the current leadership.
Zuma emphasised that the ANC of the past was focused on serving its members, not preoccupied with expelling them.
He listed the appointment of Chief Justice Raymond Zondo as the chair of the Zondo commission, the 2017 Nasrec conference, the July 2021 unrest and the subsequent deaths, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s comment that the ANC was accused number one of corruption, former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s impeachment, and load shedding, which he says could have been avoided through proper appointment procedures, as some of the reasons he would not be campaigning for the party.
Despite all these challenges, Zuma vowed he would die in the ANC and would stay on because he understood the original plans of the organization.
“I hold a very deep commitment to the ANC. I will die as a member of the ANC,” he said.
However, he feels it is necessary to “rescue” the ANC from the current leadership.
