Gauteng ANC convenor and Premier Panyaza Lesufi has set tongues wagging after publicly wishing former president Jacob Zuma a speedy recovery, making him the only senior ANC leader to do so.
Panyaza wished Zuma to recuperate quickly after media reports that the former ANC president was under the weather.
Lesufi took to X and Facebook on Thursday morning with a short but loaded message: “Get well, Nxamalala, Msholozi.”
He confirmed to Africa Daily that both accounts are his.
“Yes, those are my accounts,” he said in a text message.
The post landed just hours after MKP spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu downplayed media reports that Zuma had been rushed to hospital and had merely attended a routine medical check-up.
According to media reports, Zuma, 83, had fallen ill at an event in Msinga on Tuesday and arrived by ambulance late at night at a KwaZulu-Natal hospital, where he was admitted.
An eyewitness at the hospital reportedly confirmed that Zuma had indeed been brought in by ambulance.
Mahlangu did not name the hospital, did not say what tests were conducted, and did not explain why a routine check-up would happen at night and reportedly by ambulance.
Lesufi’s “get well soon” message to Zuma came at a time when many members of the ANC flagrantly displayed unprecedented animosity towards him for forming the Umkhonto We Sizwe Party after being removed as the president of the Republic of South Africa.
The rancour by certain members of the ANC towards Msholozi became even more palpable after the ANC lost power at the national level during the general elections. The ANC has also lost Gauteng, Western Cape, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where Zuma comes from. The ANC’s shocking loss of power was attributed to the popularity of MK Party in KwaZulu-Natal.
By wishing Zuma well, Lesufi effectively signalled that he did not take Zuma’s formation of the MK Party personally like many of his comrades did.
Lesufi was elected ANC Gauteng chairperson in June 2022 and is now leading the ANC’s charge to reclaim metros in the 4 November local government elections — an election where MKP is the ANC’s most direct threat in KZN and a growing factor in Gauteng.
On X, where Lesufi is usually vocal about Gauteng service delivery, the reaction was instant and divided.
User @KaKhali, who follows Lesufi, replied under his post: “Is it no longer routine check-ups?”
Another user wrote: “Premier, are you confirming that Msholozi is sick? Because MKP said it’s just routine. Which is which?”
Others praised him.
“That’s leadership, Panyaza. You can fight politically but still show ubuntu when a former president is not well. Get well, Msholozi,” one comment read.
“Thank you, comrade Lesufi. The only leader in that burning house,” another post read.
But some were surprisingly furious.
“So you are the first to wish Zuma when MKP themselves say he is fine? Are you campaigning for MKP now?” an X user posted.
The sensitivity is political as much as personal. Zuma remains the face, voice and campaign engine of the MKP ahead of the municipal polls.
The party is banking on Zuma’s personal pull to convert the 2024 national election shock, where MKP took 14.5% nationally and became the dominant party in KZN, into municipal power.
In recent weeks, Zuma has maintained a gruelling campaign schedule, criss-crossing rural KwaZulu-Natal — including Msinga — where his traditionalist appeal and anti-ANC rhetoric still lands.
Health has been a political flashpoint for Zuma before. During his corruption trial and the subsequent medical parole saga after his jailing for contempt of the Constitutional Court, his lawyers leaned heavily on ill-health, even as he often appeared frail in court papers, only to bounce back on stage at rallies.
