Former president Jacob Zuma was reportedly jovial in hospital on Friday, joking with nurses despite concern about his health.
A close contact spoke to him by phone, while someone close to the family kept Saturday travel plans. Both accounts suggested no immediate alarm.
Outside the hospital, however, his uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) found itself in sixes and sevens, struggling to explain its leader’s continued admission.
The uncertainty unsettled party figures before the November 4 municipal elections.
Spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu initially insisted the 84-year-old had attended a routine check-up, something he undergoes twice yearly.
“We hereby confirm that he is healthy and in good spirits,” the party said.
“His campaign programme will continue accordingly.”
Mahlangu went further in interviews, claiming Zuma had returned to his Nkandla home.
“The president is not unwell. He is very much well and alive,” he said.
But subsequent reports placed Zuma at a private hospital in Pietermaritzburg, where he had remained since Tuesday.
An MK Party insider questioned the absence of reassuring footage.
During previous health scares, Zuma appeared dancing in public to demonstrate his vitality, the insider recalled.
If he had left hospital in good health, the insider argued, supporters would probably have seen him leaving. Instead, no video of Zuma returning home had emerged.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile publicly wished Zuma a speedy recovery on Friday.
“President Jacob Zuma has not been well,” Ramaphosa told journalists.
He said doctors were treating the former president and that the military surgeon general knew about his condition.
“We wish him a very quick recovery,” he said.
Mashatile also acknowledged the hospital stay.
“I would like to wish former president Zuma a speedy recovery, as he is in hospital,” he said.
Their interventions prompted a question among MK Party critics. Why would the country’s two most senior leaders discuss an ordinary check-up?
Zuma’s son, Duduzane, also addressed speculation surrounding his father’s absence from a party gathering.
He said Zuma had asked him to “tell the supporters that he apologises” for missing the event.
His father “couldn’t make it because he needed to go for check-ups”, Duduzane said.
He offered no diagnosis and his comments did not establish how serious Zuma’s condition was.
Inside the MK Party, the deeper grievance concerned the party’s communication vacuum.
Members complained that they lacked an internal briefing and could not reach communications officials, whose phones were reportedly off.
This left competing accounts to circulate, with some members interpreting the silence as evidence of a crisis.
Political observers familiar with the MK Party’s internal workings described the confusion as consistent with its long-standing organisational weaknesses.
They said the party relied heavily on Zuma’s personal authority and spontaneous electoral momentum rather than central coordination.
Its competing power centres held different visions for the party’s future, frustrating attempts to deliver a coherent message.
The party needs to explain whether Zuma will resume campaigning and who makes decisions during his absence.
Neither the reassuring phone account nor the prolonged hospital stay establishes the precise state of his health.
- Former president Jacob Zuma was reportedly jovial and joking with nurses in a Pietermaritzburg hospital, where he had been admitted since Tuesday.
- The MK Party struggled to provide a consistent explanation for Zuma’s continued hospital stay amidst ongoing uncertainty ahead of the November 4 municipal elections.
- MK Party spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu stated Zuma was healthy, had attended a routine check-up, and had returned to his Nkandla home, though no footage confirmed his departure from hospital.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa and Deputy President Paul Mashatile publicly wished Zuma a speedy recovery, acknowledging his hospitalization and treatment by doctors.
- Internal MK Party communication failures caused confusion among members, who lacked briefings and could not reach communications officials, fueling speculation about Zuma’s health and the party's future.
