The ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has described former president Jacob Zuma as the most disruptive person in the national democratic revolution (NDR).
Zuma had endangered the NDR in many ways by making a last throw of the dice and putting it in a precarious situation, he said.
“He’s been mobilising members of the ANC and everyone else against the movement. History will remember him for that – for putting the ANC in a difficult position as a former president and a former stalwart of the movement.
“Today he says he must not be called by the name Jacob Zuma. I don’t know (what name) we should call him by, because he’s Jacob Zuma. The fact that he was a comrade was because he was with us. His people and his Chihuahuas called our president names every day.”
Mbalula said Zuma had to teach his people manners first, as they were the ones calling President Cyril Ramaphosa names.
The secretary-general said MK Party members were the ones encouraging violence, citing their recent threat to disrupt the upcoming elections if Zuma was not included on the ballot papers.
“It’s very strange that Zuma would speak as if he’s a Messiah, as in fact we are in these troubles because of him. We don’t mind him (giving) his party his own name, but we mind if he’s going to use ANC assets as his own.
“We don’t go to court because we lack confidence; we go to court because we are confident. We know, and the world knows, that MK belongs to the ANC.”
The IEC has found itself at the centre of a dispute between the two organisations.
The dispute centres on the identification and registration of the MK Party, and has escalated into a complex legal tussle with implications for the integrity of the electoral process.
The conflict lies in the perceived similarities between the MK Party’s moniker and that of the ANC’s Umkhonto weSizwe, the party’s former military wing founded by Nelson Mandela in 1961.
The war of words comes as the MK Party continues to make inroads in regions and areas previously dominated by the ANC, despite some opposition parties regarding the Zuma-backed party as a regional one.
Last month, chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission had made submissions on the matter, explaining the circumstances that led to the MK Party’s registration.
“We hope that once (the IEC) has considered all the evidence before it, it will make a call,” he said.
The Star
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