Zuma could spill the beans on ANC’s top officials if he is expelled, says political analyst

Former president Jacob Zuma could expose some of the ANC’s darkest secrets if he was to be expelled from the party, according to political analyst Fikile Vilakazi.

In an interview with The Citizen, Vilakazi said Zuma is privy to many of the parties’ secrets. This is because Zuma, who was in the MK structures, had been involved in the intelligence gathering of the ANC during the apartheid years.

ALSO READ: ANC hopes to fill up Mbombela Stadium on its birthday

ANC files could be exposed

“We know that the former president was sitting at the centre of the intelligence of the ANC and for that reason he has exposure to delicate information. He may have access to files and records of individual members of the ANC that are not meant to be public. I think he has made threats that if they act against him, he is also likely to expose them,” said Vilakazi.

ANC under pressure from alliance partners

There have been calls from some alliance partners for the ANC to take action against its former leader. But Vilakazi said the party is between a rock and a hard place.

“He is holding the organisation to ransom. This is a thorny issue and it could lead to the total collapse of the organisation. The information he has could be the total demise of the ANC,” said Vilakazi.

ALSO READ: ‘Writing is on the wall’ – MK Party and ACT collaboration pose ‘significant threat to ANC’

She said the ANC had enough reasons to suspend Zuma.

“He has put the ANC into disrepute in terms of its constitution. He is one of the members who should have been subjected to a disciplinary procedure and expelled. The kind of offence he has committed is a dismissible one,” Vilakazi said.

MK suitable for RET forced

According to Vilakazi, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party was a suitable political home to a faction of the ANC that identified itself as the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) faction of the ANC.

At the weekend, a leaked letter indicated that Zuma’s ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, would not be available to serve in parliament after this year’s national and provincial elections.

This means, should the ANC retain power after the elections, she will cease to be a member of the cabinet in the new administration, as ministers are appointed from MPs.

Dlamini-Zuma is one of the longest-serving ANC MPs. She has been a member of the National Assembly since the dawn of democracy in 1994, having served under all five presidents since Nelson Mandela’s tenure.