ANC’s handling of Zuma not clever

It is, you have to admit, quite entertaining to see the ANC hyenas turning on each other as the election looms.

But the campaign to attack former president Jacob Zuma might not be the clever thing to do.

Zuma, in his cunning way, has been saying he will die a member of the ANC, yet is clearly behind the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which is threatening to wrest at least KwaZulu-Natal away from the ruling party.

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But, as they have done repeatedly, the ANC has not taken any formal steps against the doyen of state capture – such as bringing him before a disciplinary hearing and charging him. He clearly has violated ANC rules by his involvement with the MK party and by saying he would not vote for the ANC in the election.

Character assassination campaign

Instead, the party has tried to embark on a character assassination campaign led by some of its leading figures – even though they may not have squeaky clean track records themselves.

Zuma still has a lot of appeal to those who believe the Bell Pottinger-concocted narratives about race and monopoly capital. Attacking him will only build him up in the eyes of his supporters. Better, perhaps, to ignore him as a has-been.