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Former RSA President Jacob Zuma denounces ANC, forms own party uMkhonto Wesizwe

Former South African President Jacob Zuma, centre speaks as his daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla listens, during a press conference in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. Zuma has denounced his ruling African National Congress party and announced that he will vote for a newly-formed political formation in the country's general election next year. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

JOHANNESBURG-(AP)-Former President Jacob Zuma on Saturday denounced the governing African National Congress party and announced that he would vote for a newly formed political formation in South Africa’s general election next year.

Zuma, who was president of the ANC from 2007 to 2017, said that he’s backing the newly-formed Umkhonto we Sizwe party which is named after the ANC’s now-defunct military wing, which was disbanded after the liberation struggle.

FILE - Former South African President Jacob Zuma enters the High Court following a recess in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on Jan. 31, 2022. Former South African President Jacob Zuma has denounced the governing African National Congress party and announced that he will vote for a newly-formed political formation in the country’s general elections next year. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool, File)

Zuma, 81, called on other South Africans to vote for the new formation, saying it would be “a betrayal to vote for the ANC” of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Former South African President Jacob Zuma, centre speaks as his daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla listens, during a press conference in Soweto, South Africa, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. Zuma has denounced his ruling African National Congress party and announced that he will vote for a newly-formed political formation in the country's general election next year. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The country’s general election scheduled for 2024 is expected to be highly contested, because the ruling ANC, which has governed the country since Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically-elected leader in 1994, faces a myriad of challenges.

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