The Acting African National Congress (ANC) national spokesperson, Zuko Godlimpi, stated that if the party had acted quickly in its National Disciplinary Committee processes, it would have been able to engage with voters and expel former president Jacob Zuma from the party before the May elections. These comments come as the party’s national working committee is wrapping up its visit to KwaZulu-Natal to assess the party’s performance after a significant loss in the recent polls.
Godlimpi believes that the idea that the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK Party) was created to reform the ANC may have caused confusion among voters during the elections. He explains, “We cannot underestimate the impact of former President Zuma forming a political party, as that was the main reason why the electorate shifted in that direction.”
“The tagging of particular names around it, saying there’s an ANC of President Ramaphosa, and then there’s an ANC of President Zuma created a local narrative of confusion. Voters took to the polls to vote for a political party that they believed represented a version of the ANC as well,” he adds.
Godlimpi also believes that the rhetoric that the party was formed with the sole purpose of ‘fixing the ANC’ also played a critical role in the beating that the former ruling party experienced during the polls.
