ANC was lenient on 'selfish old man' Zuma, says ANCYL's Malatji
ANCYL president, Collen Malatji, said the league would have called for an immediate expulsion of Zuma, however, it respected that the ANC must follow due process as set out in the party’s constitution.
Former President Jacob Zuma addresses members of the media under the banner of new party uMkhontho weSizwe on 16 December 2023. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/ Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) said that its mother body was lenient on "a selfish old man" when it placed its former president, Jacob Zuma, on immediate suspension this week.
Its president, Collen Malatji, said the league would have called for an immediate expulsion of Zuma, however, it respected that the ANC must follow due process as set out in the party’s constitution.
Zuma was suspended for campaigning for another party following his announcement in December that he would be backing the newly registered uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK).
ALSO READ:
• ANC NEC's decision to suspend Jacob Zuma was unanimous - Mbalula
• Zuma suspended as he mobilises against the ANC
The former president is the face of the MK Party and has been mobilising against the governing ANC.
Malatji also questioned how a leader who has continuous financial woes and who can’t apparently pay his legal bills, is fronting an organisation that seems to be throwing big money into its election campaign.
According to the ANCYL, the former president of the ANC no longer deserved its respect, as he had positioned himself as an enemy of the organisation.
This is an ironic development, as Zuma, in the past, was well known for using the ANC’s youth league as so-called henchmen to fight and
insult his opponents in the political realm.
Malatji: "It was all about himself. After he’s left, it means the organisation must die because he has left. Now that is a selfish old man."
Malatji also raised questions over the MK Party’s elections campaign kitty.
He said that Zuma’s many legal battles had at times led to calls for donations amid claims that the former president had no money, yet it seemed that his MK Party was a well-funded operation.
"... that has got golf T-shirts, that has got energy drinks in cans, all over the country mobilising people to vote for the party, giving them resources and hiring cars for them."
Zuma’s suspension is a clear signal he’s on his way out of the ANC but the party is likely to leave this matter on ice, at least until after the general elections.