Former president Jacob Zuma. (Photo: Shiraaz Mohamed) 
At midnight on 26 September, former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Dudu Sambudla-Zuma, sent out a Twitter release to her 205,000 followers. In it, her father put up his hand to serve as chairperson in the ANC’s Top 6, the leadership structure of the governing party, which is often more potent than the Cabinet.
“I have indicated that I will be guided by the branches of the ANC and that I will not refuse such a call should they deem it necessary for me to serve the organisation again at that level and I will not refuse such a call should they deem it necessary for me to serve the organisation again at that level or any other,” said the tweet. Decoded, this is ANC-speak to say Zuma wants to be re-elected to the party’s top structure at the December elective conference.
So what are the former president’s chances? At first glance, very bad.
The party’s electoral guidelines published in August say that anybody charged with or found guilty of unethical or immoral conduct, serious crime or corruption cannot be elected. That should rule Zuma out on several counts. Read Rebecca Davis here for more on the electoral guidelines.
But the ground is shifting. The party in KwaZulu-Natal will take 819 delegates to the elective conference — by far the highest number.
The provincial chairperson, Siboniso Duma, pays fealty to and takes direction from Zuma.
Queenin Masuabi reports here on the party’s decision to throw its weight behind former health minister Zweli Mkhize, who is embroiled in the Digital Vibes scandal — the deflection of public health funds for his family’s aggrandisement. Will Zuma’s hands-up make the party’s Taliban faction which rules KZN take notice?
The following weeks will tell. The midnight tweet by his daughter — not even released by the Zuma Foundation — suggests a leader piqued by Duma’s decision.
But several branches have endorsed Zuma for the party’s top job as its president, Daily Maverick has been told, and they have nominated him accordingly. This social card (see below) shows how the former president has repeatedly turned up on voting slates that are shooting across the ether like digital asteroids. The party’s leadership fight is being waged on social media and WhatsApp groups, and the old man wants back in.
Last year, Zuma was released from jail on medical parole by then Correctional Services Commissioner Arthur Fraser, with a nod and wink from President Cyril Ramaphosa. In August, Zuma’s lawyer Dali Mpofu said his client was terminally ill, as News24 reported.
Zuma, implicated in corruption by the State Capture Commission, wants back in the game and has made a miraculous recovery ahead of his desired second coming.
He has also endorsed Co-operative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s bid to be ANC president. In her first significant party political policy speech, Dlamini Zuma questioned the party’s step-aside rule whereby leaders charged with a crime that brings the party into disrepute must stand aside and not be eligible for election.
The Zuma game plan is clear — but its potential success is as murky as the Umgeni River. DM