South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma, announced that his political party, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), will join the opposition alliance in parliament. Zuma stated that MK will coordinate resistance against the governing coalition led by the African National Congress (ANC).
Despite participating in the opposition, MK maintains that last month’s elections were rigged and is calling for the results to be annulled. In a speech read by MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela, Zuma declared that the ANC is no longer a part of the solution and described the current coalition as a “white-led unholy alliance between the DA and the ANC of Ramaphosa.”
The ANC lost its outright majority for the first time since the end of apartheid and formed a power-sharing agreement with the Democratic Alliance (DA) over the weekend. Several smaller parties have also joined what the ANC describes as a national unity government. On Friday, their MPs re-elected ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term as president.
Zuma confirmed on Sunday that MK has lodged a court case to invalidate the election results and call for a new vote. He urged his supporters to “submit or fight” back through peaceful means, asserting, “We will fight to win back our country from the enemies of progress.”
There are concerns that Zuma’s stance could incite violence among his supporters, who previously sparked deadly riots in July 2021 when he was jailed for refusing to testify at a public inquiry into corruption during his administration. Police reinforcements have been deployed to his home province, KwaZulu-Natal.
At 82 years old, Zuma announced that MK would soon take its place in parliament after boycotting the first sitting on Friday. The newly formed MK performed surprisingly well in the elections, securing 12% of the vote and 58 seats in parliament, making it the country’s third-largest party and significantly diminishing the ANC’s vote share.
Zuma stated that MK would join the official opposition, becoming part of a group of small parties known as the Progressive Caucus. This caucus, controlling almost a third of the seats, includes the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the centre-left United Democratic Movement (UDM).
Zuma, an ANC veteran, fell out with the party after being forced to resign as president in 2018 due to corruption scandals, although he has always denied any wrongdoing.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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