ANC’s national chair Gwede Mantashe has called former president Jacob Zuma’s attempt to return to politics as ‘the biggest joke of the year’.
This after Zuma announced that he is available for election as ANC national chairperson at the party’s national conference in December.
In a statement released shortly before midnight on Monday, Zuma also threw his weight behind his former wife and current ANC NEC member Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (NDZ) as his preferred person to contest again for the governing party’s top position.
Responding to questions from the media at the COSATU national congress, Mantashe, who is contesting for the position of national chairperson for another term and has been endorsed by the Northern Cape and Eastern Cape provincial structures, said Zuma’s bid to return to active politics was the biggest joke of the year.
“Look. President Zuma was my President for 10 years. I was his secretary for 10 years. I take that as the biggest joke of the year. If JZ [Jacob Zuma] at 81 [years old] wants to contest chairperson of the ANC, I take it as a joke,” Mantashe said.
Zuma, in his statement, said ANC branches had approached him to contest the position.
“I have been approached by a number of cadres to make myself available for the position of national chairperson of the ANC,” said in a poorly written statement.
Zuma recently celebrated his 80th birthday. He will turn 81 in April 2023.
Interestingly, Zuma does not have the support of his home province KwaZulu-Natal after the provincial executive committee came out in support of Limpopo chairperson Stanely Mathabatha for the position of national chairperson.
In the meantime, Mantashe also announced that was leaving the 14th national congress of COSATU after hundreds of workers refused to let him deliver the ANC’s message of support.
Delegates told Mantashe to leave and started singing ‘Asinamali’ [We have no money] and chanted ‘Hamba Gwede’ [Go away, Gwede, Go Away].
“We humbly accept the decision of OCSATU delegates. We took note of their concerns. We will report to the ANC NEC and report back to the federation. It is clear that the alliance is weak. We will have to get together and try to rebuild it. We wish the Congress success,” said Mantashe.
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