The Jacob Zuma Foundation said the former President strongly rejects being expelled from the ANC. The foundation spokesperson, Mzwanele Manyi, said the ANC under Ramaphosa did not have the authority to expel Zuma from the movement. This comes after the ANC's National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal announced on Friday that they have upheld their decision to expel him from the party.
NOT WILLING TO GIVE UP HIS ANC MEMBERSHIP
Speaking to Newzroom Africa yesterday, Manyi said Zuma has been with the ANC for more than 65 years and is not about to give up the party's membership. "For us as a foundation, we respect president Zuma's wish to go to the grave as an ANC member. We note the Ramaphosa ANC; all of us do not recognise it as the ANC; that thing is the shadow of the real ANC. When his excellency president Zuma talks about the ANC, he talks of the ANC of Oliver Tambo, something this coalition partner of the DA is not,? Manyi said. He also said that it was quite bizarre that the ANC took three weeks to announce a pre-determined decision, which he said was taken on the 1st of November. "A final decision maker on anything in the ANC is the conference," he said.
ZUMA TO CONSULT LEGAL TEAM ON WAY FORWARD AFTER EXPULSION
Manyi also said in the next few days, Zuma will consult with his legal team, his ANC representative, Tony Yengeni, his family, and his political comrades to deliberate on the way forward. ?Once a decision has been reached, his excellency president Zuma will do a national address and talk to the nation as to which way he is going to go,? Manyi said. Zuma was expelled from the ANC in July after being found guilty of violating the ANC's regulations by openly supporting the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, the party he founded last year. In a statement, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said Zuma's behaviour exemplified the highest form of ill-discipline and a direct assault on the historical mission of the ANC. "By establishing and leading a rival political party, he abandoned the core values of organisational loyalty and collective accountability, converting himself into a tool for destabilisation. The ANC will never permit an individual, regardless of stature or historical contribution, to undermine its mission to build a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, and prosperous society," Bhengu said.