Anti-Zuma campaigners should rather pressure ruling party to eject him

To defeat former President Thabo Mbeki, the coalition that supported the then deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC), Jacob Zuma, did two things. Firstly, they decided to step outside the disciplinary framework of the ANC and created structures outside the ruling party in support of Zuma. Secondly, they realised that it was not enough to remove Mbeki as president of the ANC since, as head of State, he still had access to the levers of State power. It was for this reason that he had to be removed as President of the country. In other words, the Zuma coalition reconfigured the balance of forces to its advantage by removing Mbeki as head of State in September 2008.