South Africa's ruling party's top leadership will meet for three days from Friday to consider whether to part ways with former leader Jacob Zuma, a move that could alienate some of its support base as it prepares for its toughest election campaign yet. Highly sexual. There are no elections yet.
Mr Zuma, 81, broke away from the African National Congress last month, announcing he was campaigning for the newly formed Umkhonto Wesizwe party, although he insisted he remained a member of the ANC.
“The issue of the former president is one of the painful problems facing the organization,” ANC finance director Gwen Ramogopa said in an interview on Thursday ahead of a meeting of the party's national executive committee. “We are listening, analyzing, evaluating and investigating exactly what is happening. The NEC will speak on this matter after the official meeting.”
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Mr Zuma ruled South Africa for almost nine years through a series of scandals and was forced to resign in 2018 by the ANC to stop him losing support. The Judicial Commission of Inquiry found that during his tenure there was a massive looting of the state treasury and the hollowing out of key institutions, and that it was done with his tacit consent. He denies that claim.
Still, a poll conducted by the Foundation for Social Research found that 28.9% of nationally recruited respondents had some or very favorable feelings toward Zuma. In his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, the figure jumped to 63.1%.
KwaZulu-Natal, currently ruled by the ANC and the second most populous province, is expected to be a key battleground in elections to be held within the next seven months, with some polls showing the party losing a landslide. It has been shown that there is a risk of Control. It is unclear whether Zuma's popularity will translate into votes for Umkhonto Wesizwe, but the ANC does run the risk of angering his allies.
The ANC was already at a disadvantage before being abandoned by Zuma, with its reputation tarnished by its inability to cope with devastating power outages, logistical disruptions, and rampant poverty and unemployment. The party, which has led Africa's most industrialized economy since white minority rule ended in 1994, is scheduled to release its election manifesto on February 24.
Mr Ramogopa called on ANC supporters not to turn their backs on the movement that led the fight against apartheid and brought about democratic governance.
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