Former South African President Jacob Zuma, who was ousted from power due to corruption charges, declared on Saturday that he would not vote for the ruling African National Congress in the 2024 national elections.
With his party, which spearheaded the decades-long campaign against apartheid, rapidly losing popularity, Zuma, 81, launched a new harsh attack on current President and ANC leader Cyril Ramaphosa.
He said he would vote for a small radical left-wing party and would refuse to campaign for the ANC.
“It would be a betrayal to campaign for the ANC of Ramaphosa,” Zuma said in a statement read at a press conference.
Zuma condemned the “death of democratically elected structures,” the “role of money” in determining votes, and “suspected fraudulent manipulation” of ANC conference outcomes.
He added that it was “widely expected that the ANC will lose the national election for the first time since 1994” .
Zuma claimed he will vote for the Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK) Party, which was only formed this year and is named after the ANC’s old armed wing.
Zuma, who served as president from 2009 to 2018, was ousted amid corruption allegations, and Ramaphosa, his deputy at the time, took over.
Despite the controversy, Zuma has retained significant influence in the party.
Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison in June 2021 for refusing to testify before a commission investigating financial wrongdoing and cronyism during his administration, but was released on medical parole barely two months later.
His imprisonment provoked protests, riots, and looting, killing over 350 people in the country’s worst violence since apartheid ended.