A FORMER senior government minister in South Africa has left the governing African National Congress (ANC), with a blistering attack on the party.
Nathi Nhleko said it was “painful” to see the ANC turn into a party he no longer recognised, accusing it of introducing austerity measures and dismantling state-owned companies.
Mr Nhleko was close to the scandal-hit ex-President Jacob Zuma.
Earlier this year, the ANC suspended Mr Zuma for backing a rival party.
An ANC official responded to Mr Nhleko’s resignation by saying “good riddance”.
Mr Zuma joined the new uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party in December, and is spearheading its campaign for votes in the build-up to the 29 May general election.
It is unclear whether Mr Nhleko intends to do likewise, but some of the rhetoric in his resignation letter was similar to that used by Mr Zuma when he announced in December that he was throwing his weight behind MK.
That party is named after the armed wing that the ANC formed when it was fighting white-minority rule in South Africa.
As the police minister in Mr Zuma’s cabinet, Mr Nhleko gained infamy for defending the use of $23m (£15m) of government money to upgrade the-then president’s private residence in the village of Nkandla.
At the time, Mr Nhleko was widely mocked for saying the expenditure was part of necessary security upgrades.
This included the building of a swimming pool which he described as a fire pool that could be used in the event a fire broke out at the residence in Mr Zuma’s home village of Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal province.
An amphitheatre, cattle enclosure and chicken run were also built.
On the campaign trail in January, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said Mr Nhleko was “sweating” at the time as he was forced to defend “lies” in parliament.
Mr Nhleko suggested that these comments triggered his decision to quit the party.
“In the past few years, I have observed that I no longer recognise this ANC that I joined, the ANC whose only aspiration was to liberate our people,” he said, in the resignation letter quoted by the Mail & Guardian newspaper.