Political analyst Professor Susan Booysen says the African National Congress (ANC) has no choice but to take decisive action against the party’s former President Jacob Zuma.
On Saturday, Zuma announced that he would not vote for the ANC in next year’s elections. He said he would instead give his vote to the newly-formed party, uMkhonto weSizwe, and urged all South Africans to do the same.
Zuma said he would also not be available to campaign for the ANC.
Meanwhile, the ANC says it has noted Zuma’s announcement.
Professor Booysen elaborates below:
‘Non-issue’
Labour federation, and ANC alliance partner, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says Zuma’s decision not to campaign or vote for the ANC in the upcoming general elections is a non-issue.
Cosatu’s national spokesperson, Matthew Parks says Zuma was doing this out of boredom.
“For us, it’s not really an issue, people will make noise during elections- it’s a bit of a silly season. We’re going to hear of a lot of political parties being created. People don’t know what these parties are about, other than some person’s bored ambitions, and it will disappear after the elections. So, for us, it’s really not something to be too worried about. It’s a silly season.
“Clearly, we have a pensioner who’s quite bored with his life – he’s got a lot of time on his hands but it’s quite an incoherent statement. He says he’s an ANC member, yet he’s going to vote for a party that no one knows about, a party which hasn’t been launched, doesn’t have leadership, and a party whose chances of actually contesting elections are in doubt because the ANC is very likely to take them to court around copyright infringement,” Parks explains.
