VOTE SPLITTING
NATASHA MARRIAN: Why Zuma loyalists’ poll strategy is a lost cause
Jacob Zuma has continued the narrative that swept him to power in 2007, that he is the victim of a political conspiracy
The move by some in the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal to call on loyalists of former president Jacob Zuma to split their votes in the 2019 election is likely to backfire. The Zuma faction in the province appears to be following a strategy similar to that of some ANC structures in Gauteng ahead of the 2014 national election. The Sunday Times reported that there were plans for Zuma loyalists to vote for the ANC provincially and another party at national level, to "punish" President Cyril Ramaphosa. What the group is punishing him for is unclear. The February decision of the special national executive committee meeting was near unanimous and it was attended by many of the Zuma loyalists from the province. The charges against Zuma also predate Ramaphosa and it was Zuma’s own attorney who admitted to the Supreme Court of Appeal that the 2009 decision to drop the fraud, corruption and racketeering charges against him was indeed unlawful. Zuma is aware of this, yet outside the courts he continued t...
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