Zuma comeback the 'biggest joke of the year'

A top member of South Africa's governing African National Congress has dismissed a possible run by Jacob Zuma, the country's former president, for the powerful post of party chairman as "the biggest joke of the year."

Mr Zuma, as we reported earlier, said in a statement that he had been approached by party members to take up the position ahead of its national conference in December.

“He was my president for 10 years. I was his secretary for 10 years. I take that as the biggest joke of the year, actually. If JZ, at 81 [years old], wants to contest chairperson of the ANC, I take it as a joke," Gwede Mantashe, the party's current national chairman, who's running for re-election, told journalists on Tuesday.

The former president is backing his ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to become ANC's president, a position held by his successor Cyril Rampahosa.

This article originally appeared on BBC Africa

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