Zuma Is Expelled by South Africa’s ANC After Election Mauling

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa’s African National Congress expelled former leader Jacob Zuma for starting a rival political group that cost the party its parliamentary majority for the first time since it came to power three decades ago.

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The party’s disciplinary committee found that Zuma impugned the ANC’s integrity by working with a rival party, Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday. Zuma is the first former president of the party to be expelled, he said.

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“This conduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organizational discipline,” Mbalula said. “His platform is dangerous, appeals to extremist instincts in our body politic and riles up a political base that may foment social unrest.”

Zuma, 82, led South Africa for almost nine years through a series of scandals before the ANC forced him to step down in 2018 to stem a loss of electoral support. A judicial inquiry found that billions of rands of taxpayer funds were looted with his tacit consent and state institutions were hollowed out during his tenure, though he hasn’t been indicted and has denied any wrongdoing.

Zuma founded the uMkhonto weSizwe Party late last year and it went on to win 14.6% support in elections that took place in May. The ANC secured 40.2% backing — losing its parliamentary majority for the first time since it came to power in 1994 — and went into a coalition with nine rivals to retain power.

Zuma opted out of appearing before the ANC’s disciplinary committee, but made a submission through a representative. Under the party’s constitution, he can appeal the panel’s decision within 21 days.

ANC expulsion, while rare, is not unprecedented and includes that of the party’s former youth league president, Julius Malema. He went on to form the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters party, which garnered 10% of the vote in this year’s election.

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While Zuma campaigned for the MK Party, he was barred from running as a lawmaker. The electoral authorities disqualified him over his 2021 conviction of contempt of court, after he refused to testify at an inquiry into the plunder of more than $27 billion of state funds during his presidency.

Zuma’s arrest in July 2021 for the contempt-of-court charge sparked the deadliest unrest in South Africa since the end of apartheid. More than 350 people died during days of rioting and hundreds of businesses were looted and damaged, costing the economy billions of rand.

--With assistance from Ana Monteiro.

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