Inside Politics Reporter
Jacob Zuma remains under medical care at Netcare St Anne’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, where he was admitted last week after reportedly falling ill during a campaign engagement in Msinga, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Jacob Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi on Tuesday dismissed reports that the former head of state had been discharged from hospital.
“Dear Media, Reports that H.E President Zuma has been discharged are NOT true,” Manyi said in a statement.
Zuma’s medical condition has not been publicly disclosed since his hospitalisation, although his party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), initially maintained that he had undergone a routine medical check-up and was in good health.
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MK Party spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu previously claimed that Zuma had returned to his Nkandla home.
The party’s KwaZulu-Natal leadership has also dismissed rumours surrounding Zuma’s health.
Neither Zuma’s medical team nor his party has publicly confirmed the severity of his condition or disclosed the nature of his illness.
However, the Foundation said on Monday that the former president was recovering well, remained in high spirits and was eager to return to his political activities.
Speaking to SABC News on Monday, Manyi said a person who had visited Zuma reported that the former president was joking and already showing an interest in returning to the campaign trail.
Despite his hospitalisation, Manyi has maintained that Zuma will continue leading the MK Party through the 4 November municipal elections, although it remains unclear when he will resume campaigning.
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A party member told Inside Politics that Zuma’s hospitalisation had caused panic within the party’s leadership because he remained its public face at a crucial stage of preparations for the elections.
The member said the leadership had not yet called a “crisis meeting” but was closely monitoring the situation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent his well wishes to his predecessor, confirming that the military Surgeon General had been briefed on Zuma’s condition.
“President Jacob Zuma has not been well, and he has now been put under treatment by doctors,” Ramaphosa told reporters during a campaign trail in the Free State.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni also confirmed that Ramaphosa had assigned the Surgeon General to oversee Zuma’s medical care.
Ntshavheni said details about Zuma’s health could only be disclosed by his medical team with his consent.
