The newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe party has been the big winner in the country’s May 29 general election after Jacob Zuma staged a surprise comeback at the head of the upstart party. Image: RAJESH JANTILAL / AFPThe newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe party has been the big winner in the country’s May 29 general election after Jacob Zuma staged a surprise comeback at the head of the upstart party.
Having slid well below 50 percent of preferences for the first time, the ANC will now have to look for coalition partners to form a national government, and the MK is among various potential bedfellows.“Now that we have taken over, the real work begins,” Musa Mkhize, MK’s provincial head of programmes, told supporters as the convoy stopped during its two-hour journey across the semi-rural area of Kwaximba, one of the biggest voting districts.
Zuma, who was president from 2009 to 2018, was forced out of office under the cloud of corruption, and for many South Africans his rule has since become synonymous with “state capture” by corrupt business interests.