According to the MK party, Zuma will travel to several African countries this year.
Weeks after a controversial trip to the Kingdom of Morocco, former President Jacob Zuma has slammed the ANC in a public address in Ghana.
On Tuesday, Zuma delivered a guest lecture at the University of Professional Studies Accra (UPSA) in the country’s capital.
He told students and other guests at the lecture that he left the ANC because it no longer represented the aspirations of indigenous South Africans.
“I disagreed with those I was with, and I was honest, I told them that, you are selling out, you are selling out our ancestors who said let us be free.
“The problem is that our enemies know how to buy people and make them feel that they are wonderful when they are actually killing the nation,” said Zuma.a
Zuma rejects the ANC
Zuma said the ANC was no longer a party that is “loved” by the majority of South Africans and has turned into “something else.”
At the same lecture, he encouraged relations between countries from the East and slammed the West for being complicit in the colonisation of Africa.
Zuma also challenged the ANC’s position on relations between Morocco and the people of Western Sahara.
“Some may disagree, but Africa must not be divided for the convenience of the outsiders,” he said.
He spoke of the more than two dozen bilateral agreements signed between the countries and spoke about the need for closer collaboration.
Zuma’s utterance could cause trouble, diplomatic storms
Political analyst Theo Neethling told The Citizen that there is nothing wrong with Zuma going on international trips, but not when his utterances can be interpreted as speaking on behalf of the country.
“Former American presidents do so regularly, and South Africa’s own former leaders such as FW de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki have also done so without controversy.
“The difficulty arises, however, when Zuma positions himself in ways that contradict or interfere with official foreign policy, and when he makes pronouncements that suggest he is speaking on behalf of the South African nation,” said Neethling.
However, he said it is clear that he is attempting to discredit the ANC on the continent.
“Zuma appears to be playing a deliberate political game of disruption against the ANC.
“The danger is that he places South Africa’s already strained foreign policy in jeopardy, generating confusion and potentially placing President Ramaphosa and the government not only in an awkward diplomatic position but also in embarrassment on the international stage,” he said.
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Advancing the interests of the MK party on the continent
Neethling said it is also clear that Zuma is attempting to advance the interests of the MK party in an international arena.
“That may serve his personal and factional agenda, but it is highly problematic when set against the practice of South Africa’s foreign policy by government leaders, officials and diplomats,” he addd.
In a recent press briefing, Zuma’s party said it sees nothing wrong with his association with countries that have strained relations with South Africa.
Some of these countries include countries where power was taken forcefully by certain militia groups and have not been recognised as democracies by Pretoria.
His visit to Morocco became controversial when the South African flag was flown at the bilateral.
But the MK party said there was nothing wrong with the South African flag being flown during the meeting.
ALSO READ: ‘MK party only true hope for total liberation of SA people,’ – Zuma
