South Africa’s ruling ANC loses court bid to deregister party backed by ex-President Zuma

By Hassan Isilow

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party Tuesday lost a court bid seeking to deregister the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, backed by former President Jacob Zuma.

The ANC which has ruled South Africa for three decades took the MK and the Independent Electoral body to court stating that the newly formed party did not meet the requirements when it was registered last September.

It also argued that Masego Sheburi, the deputy chief electoral officer, acted unlawfully when he registered the party.

“We find there is nothing unlawful about the registration of MK party by the deputy chief electoral officer,” Judge Lebogang Modiba said as she dismissed the ANC’s court application.

The ANC also wanted MK barred from running in the May 29 polls, saying the party used a name belonging to its now disbanded military wing uMkhonto weSizwe which means spear in the IsiZulu language.

The Judge said the ANC should have challenged the MK party’s registration last year but brought the matter beyond the stipulated period.

The MK party formed last year is being fronted by Zuma and it has now emerged as a powerful rival of the ANC.

Zuma, 81, led the ANC and the country for nearly a decade, but announced last December he would not vote or campaign for the party in the May 2024 elections.

In January, the ANC suspended Zuma, a party member for 60 years, in another sign of the growing rift between him and current President Cyril Ramaphosa.

A recent study by the Social Research Foundation think tank says the MK party is in a position where it could cut by half ANC’s support in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s most populous province where Zuma hails from.

Analysts believe the May elections could be a turning point for South Africa, where the ANC could be left without a majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.

Opinion polls also show the ANC losing ground, but it is yet to be seen whether it loses majority in parliament and is forced to form a coalition.

The ANC, which liberated South Africans from white minority rule and racial segregation, has secured more than 60% in all elections since 1994, barring 2019, when its parliamentary share dipped to 57.5%.

It currently has 230 seats in the 400-member National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, where members are elected by voters on a party-list proportional representation system.

Kealeboga Maphunye, a professor of politics at the University of South Africa, believes it is unlikely for the MK Party alone to end the ANC’s dominance.

“However, collectively with other newly formed parties and the usual opposition, the DA (Democratic Alliance), EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) and others, the ANC’s dominance could end in the 2024 elections,” he told Anadolu in a recent interview.

He said the ANC’s standing has taken a hit due to the “worrisome backsliding in South Africa in the past 10 to 15 years,” pointing to issues such as “nascent corruption and mismanagement.”

Maphunye says another problem has been the appointment of ANC members to public posts, which has led to South Africa being downgraded by international rating agencies like Moody’s and S&P Global.

“Other burning issues include youth and overall unemployment, poverty, social inequalities, crime and corruption. The last two have made life very difficult for many South Africans. They are very angry and they’ve been pushed into the hands of the newly formed political parties,” he said.

South Africa, a country of some 62 million people, currently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, standing at 32.1%, according to official government figures released earlier this month.