ANC NEC meeting: Will Zuma hot potato top party agenda?

Former president Jacob Zuma’s name will likely top of the ANC NEC meeting agenda at the Birchwood Hotel in Gauteng, which kicks off today and concludes on Sunday 28 January 2024.

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Zuma is expected to be formally barred from the ruling party’s activities, including its NEC meeting, for openly campaigning for the newly formed Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, while remaining an ANC member.

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MANIFESTO, ELECTIONS TO BE DISCUSSED AT ANC NEC MEETING

The ANC NEC meeting this weekend will also be used to plan party’s future and discuss its manifesto ahead of the provincial and national elections. 

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ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe says disciplinary action will be taken against the party’s former president after the elections.

“We don’t want to be distracted in an election year,” he said

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ZUMA MAKING GROUND IN NORTH WEST?

On 16 December 2023, Zuma announced he would not campaign for the ANC nor vote for it, but he was adamant he would remain a governing party member.

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This week, Zuma was reported to be recruiting disgruntled ANC executives to join the MK party. He is also targeting his former ANC supporters in the North West and Free State provinces, where he is building up a growing support base.

Many disgruntled ANC members from the North West’s Kenneth Kaunda region said they were already working with MK, while others were still considering joining.

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SHILOWA: DON’T BE MISLED BY ANC CRITICISM OF ZUMA

Former Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa has warned South Africans to not be misled by the ANC’s public criticism of former president Zuma because the critiques come from self-serving people who seek to protect their political benefits.

ALSO READ: Shilowa: Don’t be misled by ANC’s public criticism of Zuma

Shilowa, a co-founder of the breakaway party Congress of the People (COPE), said the recent attacks on Zuma were driven by the ANC’s political interests rather than the country’s concerns

“Former president Jacob Zuma is no longer a member of the African National Congress (ANC),” these were the words of ANC KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo on SAFM radio on Tuesday..