The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has denied reports that former president Jacob Zuma was rushed to a KwaZulu-Natal hospital after falling ill in Msinga on Tuesday, insisting he was only there for a routine medical check-up.
MKP spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu on Wednesday moved to shut down speculation after media reports were rife that Zuma arrived by ambulance late on Tuesday night and was admitted, with multiple reliable sources confirming he remained in hospital.
“President Jacob Zuma attended his routine medical check ups yesterday. He gets a full routine checkup twice a year. He is healthy and in good spirits. His campaign programme will continue accordingly,” Mahlangu said.
Mahlangu stressed that all party communications are handled by the national spokesperson.
“His campaign programme will continue accordingly,” Mahlangu said.
Mahlangu directly contradicts earlier accounts from the ground.
Zuma was at an event in Msinga earlier on Tuesday when he reportedly became unwell.
An eyewitness at the hospital told The Witness that Zuma arrived by ambulance and was admitted. At that stage, neither his family nor the MK Party had confirmed the admission, and the nature of his reported illness was not known.
Mahlangu’s intervention now seeks to draw a line under the matter, framing Tuesday’s hospital visit as pre-planned and routine, not an emergency.
Zuma, 83, remains the face, voice and campaign engine of the MKP ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
The party is banking on his personal pull in KwaZulu-Natal and other provinces to convert last year’s national election shock into municipal power.
Zuma has kept a punishing schedule in recent weeks, criss-crossing rural KZN including Msinga, where his traditionalist appeal and anti-ANC narrative still resonates. Images of him being taken ill on the trail would be damaging less than four weeks before voters go to the polls.
It is not the first time health has become a political flashpoint for the former president.
During his corruption trial and the medical parole saga that followed his imprisonment for contempt of the Constitutional Court, his legal teams cited ill-health, while his public appearances often showed a leader who would appear frail before rallying on stage.
Mahlangu did not say which hospital Zuma attended, what tests were conducted, or why a routine check-up would happen at night and reportedly by ambulance. He also did not address the eyewitness claim directly.
