Zuma mum on appealing his dismissal from ANC

Bongani Hans|Published 8 months ago

Former president Jacob Zuma has not indicated whether or not he has filed papers to appeal ANC decision to fire him. Picture: Stringer

IT WAS still unclear this week whether former president Jacob Zuma has filed papers to appeal his dismissal from the ANC.

Zuma, who joined the ANC 68 years ago at the age of 17, was kicked out of the party on Monday.

The ANC hauled its defiant former president to a disciplinary hearing on charges of prejudicing the party’s integrity by collaborating with the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) against the ANC.

Zuma announced in December that he would campaign for the MKP and asked South Africans to follow suit. But he said he would remain an ANC member.

The disciplinary committee (DC) found him guilty last week after hearings held visually. The verdict was leaked to the media before being handed to him.

According to an ANC insider at Luthuli House, Zuma was handed the verdict on Monday.

According to the ANC constitution, Zuma was allowed to appeal against the dismissal within 21 days after receiving the decision, meaning that he had 16 days to file his appeal.

Former SA President Jacob Zuma arriving at the Durban High Court this week where the ANC was appealing a judgement on the right of the Umkhonto Wesizwe Party’s right to use its name and logo. Photographer: Khaya Ngwenya / Independent Media

MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela and Tony Yengeni did not respond to questions sent to them.

However, Yengeni told SABC news this week that he spoke to Zuma on Sunday. Zuma said they should discuss the matter after the verdict had been announced officially.

“I will have to contact him and have an in-depth discussion about the outcome of the DC and he will give me new instructions and we will take it from there,” he said.

Yengeni said there were many grounds for an appeal.

“As a person who was in the process, who was observing the process and who was listening, I can tell you that what you have heard from the DC and what the record of the meeting (hearings) says is completely different.

“You will realise that there were many instances where what they said in their statement and their interview was simply not true,” he said.

Yengeni said Zuma was denied a pre-hearing meeting, which was important for explaining the hearing process, address questions, begin to define the scope of the hearing, and address other issues to promote an orderly, productive and fair hearing.

“I pleaded for it (a pre-hearing), but I never got it,” he said.

Yengeni said the outcome of the DC was not the end of the road as Zuma was determined to deal with the matter once and for all.

“I am not saying he is going to ask me to appeal but I am sure that he is not going to take this thing lying down,” he said.

MKP spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal Ndaba Gcwabaza said he was not sure of Zuma’s next move.

“I don’t have an update of whether he has filed the (appeal) papers. I last heard that he was still consulting with his lawyers,” said Gcwabaza.

Meanwhile, the Durban High Court earlier this week reserved judgment on the ANC’s appeal on its earlier judgment which favoured MKP in the dispute over the ANC military wing’s trademark.