South African’s National Liberation Movement

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Media Statement

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE ANC ON THE MEMBERSHIP OF JACOB ZUMA

  • 29 January 2024
  1. The ANC NEC took note of the announcement by former ANC President Jacob Zuma on 16 December 2023. He announced that he would be campaigning for another political party and further launched a series of vitriolic attacks against the ANC and its leadership.
  2. This development occurs in a context where anti-transformation forces are converging to stop the march towards a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous country that truly belongs to all.
  3. Part of the anti-transformation tactics are to encourage rebel break-away groupings to erode the support base of the ANC. Some of these parties masquerade as more radical than the ANC, but their revolutionary-sounding rhetoric cannot hide the reality that they have common cause with the forces opposing transformation. The shared goal of all these forces is to deprive the ANC of the ability to use state power to effect change.
  4. 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 we Sizwe, 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.
  5. The war against poverty, inequality and unemployment remains the primary objective of our transformation struggle. At this point in the National Democratic Revolution, there is no need to advance this program through the opportunistic use of military symbolism.
  6. The challenges of our struggle for a better life for all, are difficult and diverse and require honest and dedicated leaders. To suggest that the solutions are easy is dishonest and smacks of populist self-gratification.
  7. At its last two national conferences the ANC vowed to renew itself to more effectively address society’s challenges and conduct its affairs in line with its core values.
  8. The ANC is committed to developing and, where necessary, correcting its members and leaders. However, as renewal gains momentum, Zuma and others whose conduct is in conflict with our values and principles, will find themselves outside the ANC.
  9. The JZ-party project aims to cast doubt on our entire constitutional democracy. The ANC categorically rejects the dangerous suggestion that our electoral system can and will be manipulated. The Independent Electoral Committee is one of the most trusted public institutions. The entire voting process and counting process is monitored by party agents from all competing parties and international observers who have repeatedly declared our elections to be free and fair.
  10. The people of South Africa and the ANC will not allow a Renamo/Unita project in our country to discredit democratic outcomes that do not favour them and use violence against the people as a bargaining tool. This is the fundamental danger of the JZ-party project. It targets extremist instincts in our body politic and riles up a political base to foment social unrest.
  11. His actions reinforces the work of the primarily right-wing opponents of the National Democratic Revolution. In this regard, in assuming this reactionary public posture, former President Zuma is actively asserting himself as the figurehead of counterrevolution in South Africa today.
  12. Former President Jacob Zuma is actively impugning the integrity of the ANC and campaigning to dislodge the ANC from power, while claiming that he has not terminated his membership. Thisconduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organisational discipline and letter of the ANC Constitution.
  13. This chain of events requires the organisation to invoke measures to protect and preserve its integrity and prevent further damage to its reputation.
  14. Pursuant to this, the NEC during its ordinary meeting held from 26 – 29 January 2024 resolved to invoke Rule 25.60 of the ANC Constitution: “If justifiable exceptional circumstances warrant an immediate decision of temporary suspension of a member without eliciting the comment or response of such member as contemplated above, the NEC, the NWC, the PEC or the PWC, as the case may be, may summarily suspend such member”. The NEC concluded that exceptional circumstances exist to justify and warrant an immediate decision to suspend former ANC President JG Zuma in line with Rule 25.60 as stated above.
  15. The ANC is willing, able and ready to defend the gains of freedom and our constitutional democracy. Accordingly, we call on ANC members, our alliance partners, and all South Africans to reject the agenda of the JZ-party project and all other divisive, anti-transformation and counter revolutionary projects aimed at derailing the forward march to a National Democratic Society.

END//

ISSUED BY THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

For media inquiries, please contact:

Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri

ANC NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON
076 891 5420