By Akani Nkuna
Former president and now uMkhonto weSizwe Party leader Jacob Zuma has launched an application with the High Court against President Cyril Ramaphosa and the African National Congress to challenge his expulsion from the party.
The MK Party on Thursday described the decision to terminate Zuma’s 65 year-long ANC membership as “unlawful”, saying the processes followed were not consistent with the constitution of the ANC.
“President Zuma is on record saying that his membership of the real ANC of Luthuli, Tambo and Mandela cannot be erased by sell-outs and DA puppets like Ramaphosa and (Fikile) Mbalula,” MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said in a statement.
This follows a disciplinary hearing initiated by the ANC in July 2024. The party’s National Disciplinary Committee later expelled Zuma, saying that his decision to form the MK Party and contest the ANC in the national elections went against the party’s constitution and disciplinary rules.
The decision was upheld by the National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal later in November 2024.
The MK Party said that the launch of the application on Freedom Charter Day highlighted what it called a betrayal of the people by the ANC under Ramaphosa.
It accused the ANC of undoing progress made since 1994 by forming a Government of National Unity with the DA and Freedom Front Plus.
Ndhlela also said that Zuma’s dual membership in both the ANC and MK Party would help advance their efforts in the fight for liberation.
“Such an outcome will bring us closer to the much-needed unity of black people in the century’s old struggles for total liberation and the return of the land to its rightful owners, the African people as a whole,” he added.
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