Anti-apartheid heroes slam Zuma as ANC elects new chief

– Stalwarts speak out –

In 2016, some veterans — including Denis Goldberg, one of Mandela’s closest allies dating back to the 1960s — founded the “For the sake of our future” group to try to influence their party.

In an open letter ahead of the conference it said the “leadership of the ANC is paralysed and unable to deal with ill-discipline, incompetence and corruption that point directly to the highest office in the land”.

Zuma himself is a so-called “stalwart” — he was imprisoned with Mandela on Robben Island for 10 years.

But Sipho Pityana, a former activist who became a wealthy mining businessman, told AFP it was a “disgrace” that the ANC had failed to remove the president from power.

“The image of Zuma has become the image of the ANC,” Pityana said.

“The ANC needs to accept that it is morally bankrupt and corrupt to the core, and reversing the damage is going to take years.”

Dlamini-Zuma’s critics say she would be a proxy for her husband and would protect him from prosecution over graft charges, as well as deepen the corruption that has marred his rule.

The great anti-apartheid hero archbishop Desmond Tutu was never a member of the ANC — but in 2011 he launched an emotional attack on the party which helped to end white-minority rule.

“Our government is worse than the apartheid government because at least you would expect it with the apartheid government,” he said.

“You, President Zuma and your government, do not represent me. I am warning you… one day we will pray for the defeat of the ANC.”