Zuma abandons retirement to contest ANC leadership

By Agence de Presse Africaine Last updated Sep 27, 2022

APA-Johannesburg South Africa’ s former president Jacob Zuma announced on Tuesday that he would abandon retirement to return to active politics by contesting as the next chairman of the ruling African National Congress at the December elective conference. Announcing this in a statement released on his daughter’s Twitter page, Zuma said he had been…

APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma announced on Tuesday that he would abandon retirement to return to active politics by contesting as the next chairman of the ruling African National Congress at the December elective conference.

Announcing this in a statement released on his daughter’s Twitter page, Zuma said he had been approached to avail himself for the position of National Chairperson of the ANC.

He did not cite the people who approached him to vie for the position.

Apart from casting his eyers on the top-most position of chair, he said he was also throwing his weight behind his former wife and African Union Commission chair, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to contest for the ANC presidency whose current holder is Cyril Ramaphosa.

Dlamini-Zuma and Ramaphosa fought for the post in 2017, with the latter coming our victorious.

In the statement, Zuma also advocated for the ANC to give young people a chance to run the affairs of the party – a mixture of young and senior leaders as it were.

He recalled how he had appointed a number of young people during his time as ANC president.

Political observers, however, said the ANC’s “step-aside” rule and electoral committee regulations disqualified the Nkandla pensioner from standing for a leadership position in the party.

NM/as/APA