Zuma ‘wants to steal the ANC’s heritage’ – Youth League

The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) and ANC military veterans will together stop former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party gaining an upper hand over the ruling party.

Zuma tried “to steal the property and heritage of the MK as if it belonged to the Zuma family”, ANCYL secretary-general Mntuwoxolo Ngudle said.

ALSO READ: ‘Crooked leaders’: MK party’s formation ‘marred by theft’, says ANCYL

The youth league had programmes in place with the ANC Liberation War Veterans to ensure they preserved, protect and popularised the heritage of uMkhonto weSizwe against the influence of Zuma.

“We’re going to the lower structures, the provinces, the regions together to ensure that families of a former liberation war veterans’ members are not confused by the counter-revolution that is happening,” he said.

“They should not get confused and think that Zuma is better representing them than their own organisation of the fallen heroes of our struggle. So, we have a programme already in place.

“This programme is similar to when the ANC was reviving the liberation heritage roots when it was going around all provinces, engaging, firstly, with the families of the former liberation war veterans and the communities from which they come – therefore, broader communities and society as a whole,” said Ngudle.

‘A very wrong narrative’

“That narrative that an MK representing the real uMkhonto weSizwe and what it meant in the ANC heritage is a very wrong narrative.”

Zuma had publicly endorsed the MK party and campaigned for it ahead of the upcoming general elections. Ngudle said what the MK party was doing was a reminder of how crooked their leaders were when they were still in the ANC.

It came as no surprise the “formation of their party was marred by theft”. He said the MK party had become an entity of the Zuma family now.

“We keep asking people: what future can be led by an 80 plus year old who has been given power by a mighty organisation like ours, but created all the mess that we’re defending on him,” Ngudle said.

“Zuma has put the ANC in more trouble than any other president that has led the ANC. We are now trying to clean the ANC out of the shackles of the tendencies of an individual called Zuma. We have been trying to avoid this until now, as he wants to steal the heritage of the ANC.”

ALSO READ: ANC to deploy uMkhonto weSizwe war vets in KZN to counter MK party threat

Ngudle added Zuma was not the founder of the MK and therefore cannot claim it. He said the party now wondered whether Zuma was captured by foreign intelligence units to subvert the democratic gains of South Africa.

“We wonder – and history and time will tell – whether it is not captured by those foreign intelligence units that are seeking regime change in this country.”

The MK party said it turned to the Electoral Court in Bloemfontein to appeal the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) decision to bar Zuma as a candidate in the elections on 29 May.

Objection received and upheld

The IEC last week confirmed an objection to Zuma’s candidacy was received and upheld by the commission.

IEC chair Mosotho Moepya said one of the grounds for disqualification was if any person who was convicted of an offence had been sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment without the option of a fine.

The former president was sentenced to a 15-month prison term in 2021, after being found guilty of contempt of court.

The MK party said the IEC “had no valid reasons to violate the political rights of Zuma and exceeded the limits of its powers jurisdiction and authority”.

“The IEC lacks the power, jurisdiction and authority to implement section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution which deals with regulating membership of the National Assembly. That power resides with the National Assembly,” it said.