ANC confirms Zuma's immediate suspension
ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula has announced the immediate suspension of former president Jacob Zuma.
He addressed the media on Monday after the party's national executive committee meeting.
The move follows Zuma's announcement in December that he would not campaign or vote for the ANC in this year’s hotly contested general elections.
Instead, he has thrown his weight behind the newly formed MK Party.
Zuma, however, said he would remain a member of the ANC.
Mbalula said the ANC's constitution allows for the immediate suspension of a member when circumstances allow.
"Former president Jacob Zuma is actively impugning the integrity of the ANC and campaigning to dislodge the ANC from power while claiming that he has not terminated his membership. This conduct is irreconcilable with the spirit of organisational discipline and letter of the ANC Constitution."
Mbalula said the NEC decided to invoke Rule 25.60 of the ANC Constitution, which states, "if justifiable exceptional circumstances warrant an immediate decision of temporary suspension of a member without eliciting the comment or response of such member as contemplated above, the NEC, the NWC, the PEC or the PWC, as the case may be, may summarily suspend such member".
"The ANC is willing, able and ready to defend the gains of freedom and our constitutional democracy. Accordingly, we call on ANC members, our alliance partners, and all South Africans to reject the agenda of the JZ-party project and all other divisive, anti-transformation and counter-revolutionary projects aimed at derailing the forward march to a National Democratic Society."
