Former South African President Jacob Zuma was expected to face a disciplinary hearing with the African National Congress party on Wednesday, after campaigning against the organization he once led as head of a new political party in national elections in May.
The hearing could lead to Zuma, 82, being expelled from the ANC, which he joined in the late 1950s when it was a liberation movement fighting against the apartheid system of white minority rule.
Zuma was forced to step down as South African president in 2018 amid allegations of corruption and has been embroiled in a political feud since then with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as the leader of the party and the country.
Zuma’s split with the ANC was confirmed in December, when he appeared at a press conference and announced he would campaign for the recently-founded MK Party in the May 29 elections. He has been fiercely critical of Ramaphosa, even accusing him of treason at one point.
While Zuma said he would retain his ANC membership despite becoming the leader of the MK Party, the ANC suspended him in January. It said he had attacked the integrity of the party.
It wasn’t clear if Zuma would attend Wednesday’s hearing at the ANC headquarters in Johannesburg, or if it would be held virtually. MK officials have said he wants to appear in person, while the ANC wants it to be held online.
Zuma has been called a destabilizing figure in Africa’s most industrialized country, but his MK Party won 14% of the national vote on May 29 in the first election it has contested, stunning many.
MK’s surprising share of the vote was a prime factor in the ANC losing its majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994 in an historic result for South Africa, leading to the formation of an unprecedented multi-party coalition government.
MK has refused to join the coalition and will become the official opposition as the third biggest party in Parliament. Parliament will open Thursday for a new term following the election.
The election reinforced how popular Zuma remains in parts of the country despite facing multiple legal battles. He was sentenced to prison in 2021 for contempt of court after refusing to testify at an inquiry into alleged corruption during his presidency from 2009-2018. He is due to go on trial next year over separate corruption allegations relating to the time before he was president.
His prison sentence led to him being disqualified from standing for a seat in Parliament in the May election, but he has continued to be the face and the leader of the MK Party.