South Africa’s ANC suspends former President Jacob Zuma
Al Jazeera
The suspension of the former South African President comes ahead of the country’s general elections.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has suspended former President Jacob Zuma, weeks after he backed another party ahead of this year’s general election.
“Zuma and others whose conduct is in conflict with our values and principles will find themselves outside the African National Congress,” ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said on Monday.
The decision, which was widely expected, will be seen as a further sign of disunity in the movement ahead of the general election, in which the long-dominant ANC is expected to lose ground.
Zuma was the fourth president of democratic South Africa, serving from 2009 to 2018, but was forced from office under a cloud of corruption allegations, and he has become estranged from the party he once led.
In December, he declared he would campaign for a new party, uMkhonto We Sizwe (MK) or Spear of the Nation, named after the ANC’s former armed wing during the anti-apartheid struggle.
