Can Jacob Zuma emerge as kingmaker in South Africa’s election?

Zuma’s MK party is gaining in polls while ANC support slips. But is he still as influential outside the ruling party?

KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa – Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is a divisive figure. For some South Africans, the controversial former president is a liberator and saviour for millions of poor people. For others, he is corrupt and ill-fit to lead.

Despite having been at the forefront of some of the worst corruption and mismanagement scandals in post-apartheid history, the 82-year-old has returned to the political spotlight time and again.

Now, ahead of general elections on May 29, Zuma has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) – the party that made him a two-time president between 2009 and 2018 – in favour of newcomers, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), that seek to challenge the governing party’s hold on power.

Multiple polls have predicted the ANC will lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since the fall of apartheid in 1994, and likely have to rule as part of a coalition.

Meanwhile, the MK has been gaining in the polls, even threatening to take voters from other opposition parties. This has led some analysts to suggest Zuma may be in a position to be kingmaker – with the MK possibly becoming the majority party in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).