'Zuma show is a cult'

They make decisions in the dark and their actions undermine democracy.

- Eric Naki

Experts have questioned uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party leader Jacob Zuma's authority to expel members as an unelected leader, saying he does not practice what he preaches.

"Zuma has turned the party into a spaza shop by hiring people and firing as he pleased," said Zakhele Ndlovu, a politics lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The actions by Zuma and his party top brass smacked of dictatorship and undermined democracy in the party.

"This is not a political party, this is a cult," Ndlovu said. "If Zuma says jump, they jump, they don't ask any questions.

"There will not be stability in the party as long as it is led by one man."

Ndlovu was reacting to the expulsion of MK's secretary-general Arthur Zwane through a personal letter by Zuma. The letter confirmed Zuma's earlier letter in which he relieved Zwane of duty as secretary-general.