By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Umkhonto weSizwe party leader Jacob Zuma was involved in a car accident in KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday night, his party has confirmed.
The accident happened shortly before 21:00 when the main car in his convoy crashed between Gingindlovu and Eshowe.
Fullview understands that a car drove straight into the car in which he was travelling during a convoy.
Zuma and his bodyguards were traveling from Nkandla to Eshowe, in KwaZulu-Natal Province, to campaign for the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
According to police, a man has been arrested on charges of drunk, reckless and negligent driving after he crashed into Zuma’s official armoured state vehicle.
The suspect has been detained and is expected to appear in the Eshowe Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
MK head of elections in the province, Musa Mkhize says Zuma was a target.
“What happened last night I must say that unfortunately, we have been waiting for it to happen and it has happened because the president was warned that he will be laying in hospital, we don’t know what more is still coming.”
“Whoever is doing it, they know themselves out there. I am not the one saying it, they said it publicly, they have said it on national broadcaster and people we all know who they are.”
This comes a day after the Electoral Commission (IEC) endorsed objections to the former president’s nomination to stand for parliament.
The MK Party said it would appeal against the IEC’s decision.
The MK party formed last year is being fronted by Zuma and it has now emerged as a powerful rival of the ANC.
Zuma, 81, led the ANC and the country for nearly a decade, but announced last December he would not vote or campaign for the party in the May 2024 elections.
In January, the ANC suspended Zuma, a party member for 60 years, in another sign of the growing rift between him and current President Cyril Ramaphosa.
A recent study by the Social Research Foundation think tank says the MK party is in a position where it could cut by half ANC’s support in KwaZulu-Natal.