Former President Jacob Zuma has rejected his expulsion from the ANC.

The party’s National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal upheld Zuma’s removal from the party, it announced on Friday.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Jacob G Zuma Foundation said the former statesman strongly rejected ‘the notion that the ANC, under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, has the authority to expel him from the movement to which he has dedicated his life’.

The ANC criticised Zuma’s actions as a severe breach of organisational discipline, citing his establishment and leadership of a rival political party, the MK Party, as a direct assault on the movement’s historical mission and principles.

The foundation said that Zuma remains fully engaged in his political and social commitments.

It added that Zuma presided over a two-day meeting of the National High Command of Umkhonto weSizwe on Friday, and yesterday, he attended the funeral of six MK women members who tragically lost their lives in an accident while travelling to Nkandla.

According to the foundation’s spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi, Zuma is expected to consult with his legal team, his ANC representative Tony Yengeni, his family, and his political comrades to deliberate on the way forward.

“Once a decision has been reached, it will be communicated to the nation by Zuma,” Manyi said.