Jacob Zuma is no longer a member of the party he served for most of his lifetime.
This formal parting of the ways, News24 reports, comes with his failure to appeal his expulsion from the ANC within the 21 days afforded to him, according to ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.
Zuma, who joined the ANC in 1959 at the age of 17, was charged by the ANC ahead of the May elections for his endorsing the MK Party (MKP), having announced at a press briefing in December last year that he had founded and supported the party.
He then went on to lead the MK Party, while claiming he was also an ANC member.
News24 reports that a leaked document dated 29 July showed that Zuma was fired by the ANC’s acting national disciplinary committee member, Enver Surty, and that Nocawe Mafu, Vusi Pikoli, Jerensa Millard, Robinson Ramaite and Zuma’s long-time ally, Faith Muthambi concurred.
The ANC gave him 21 days to appeal the expulsion but by Wednesday more than 21 days had passed.
Mbalula said: “[There has been] no correspondence from Zuma. He is expelled.”
Zuma, who served as the fourth president of democratic South Africa from 2009 to 2018, went into exile in 1975, having spent 10 years on Robben Island as a political prisoner. He was later appointed as head of the ANC’s intelligence department.
After the unbanning of the ANC in 1990, he became deputy secretary general in 1991, national chairperson in 1994, and deputy president in 1997. He ousted President Thabo Mbeki as ANC president in December 2007 at the ANC’s Polokwane elective conference, and was elected president of South Africa in the 2009 general election.
[Image: World Economic Forum www.weforum.org / Eric Miller, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7019255]