ANC suspends South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma

On Monday, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa removed former president Jacob Zuma from the party and announced plans to file a lawsuit against a rival organisation running a campaign in his honour.

Announcing the decision, ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula declared: “Zuma, and others whose conduct is in conflict with our values and principles, will find themselves outside the African National Congress.”

The widely anticipated move will be interpreted as more evidence of the movement's division ahead of this year's general election, which is predicted to see the long-dominant ANC lose ground.

From 2009 to 2018, Zuma served as South Africa's fourth democratic president. However, he was removed from power due to accusations of corruption, and he has since split from the party he formerly commanded.

He announced in December that he would be running for a new party, uMkhonto We Sizwe (MK), which stands for Spear of the Nation and was inspired by the African National Congress's (ANC) military wing from the anti-apartheid era.

In addition to suspending Zuma, Mbalula said the ANC may file a trademark battle to reclaim the name and protest to the electoral court to have the new party deregistered.

“The formation of MK party is not an accident,” Mbalula declared after a meeting to the party’s National Executive Committee, attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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