Former president Jacob Zuma will be running for president again - under his own banner.
In a shock move, the veteran ANC leader launched an eleventh-hour bid to register his own party with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), which will contest the 8 May elections.
Unveiling the movement at his Nkandla homestead on Sunday, Zuma said the party would be called Government United for the Prosperity and Transformation of Africans, or the Gupta Party.
The party’s focus would be to urgently address the crises at government’s struggling state-owned enterprises, especially Eskom, which was forced to implement load shedding last month.
The ANC has expressed shock, and would not comment on the party stalwart’s exit, or the possibility of Zuma’s supporters within the ANC crossing the floor to the Gupta Party.
But sources close to Nkandla reveal that Zuma’s party leadership could be made up of former SABC head Hlaudi Motsoeneng, former minister Malusi Gigaba and Afrikaans singer Steve Hofmeyr.
Meanwhile, Zuma’s spokesperson dismissed reports that the new party would be supported by Dubai-based funders.