Conflicting reports swirl over Zuma hospital stay

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Opens in new windowOpens in new windowOpens in new windowOpens in new windowHajra OmarjeePolitical Editor

Opens in new windowOpens in new windowEnter fullscreen mode displaying this image.ExpandSouth Africa’s former president and leader of uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) Jacob Zuma during an announcement on the uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s recent developments on Friday, 6th February 2026, in Umhlanga, Kwa-Zulu Natal. Picture: Sandile Ndlovu Story audio is generated using AI

The MK Party sought to play down its 84-year-old leader, former president Jacob Zuma’s apparent emergency hospitalisation this week, saying he has now been discharged and is sitting in his lounge at his Nkandla homestead in rural KwaZulu-Natal.

“The president goes and does routine check-ups at least twice a year, they check bloods and everything. We are told that he went for those check-ups. I think people saw his cars and convoy and they thought he was in hospital. Well, he was but he is fine. We had him on a call earlier on my way here. The president is not unwell. He is very much well and alive; it was a regular check-up,” MK spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu said on Wednesday.

This contradicts a report from a KwaZulu-Natal newspaper and an independent source.

The Witness, which broke the story on Tuesday afternoon, said Zuma was admitted to a hospital on Tuesday after apparently taking ill earlier in the day. The paper said an eyewitness and an MK insider at the hospital told the publication that Zuma “arrived by ambulance and was admitted”.

An independent source has also confirmed that Zuma was rushed to a private hospital in Msinga after an MK rally on Monday.

As the leader and public figurehead of the MK party, Zuma remains a dominant force in South African politics. Any prolonged health issue directly impacts the party’s operational momentum, strategic leadership and public mobilisation efforts, given how heavily the MK relies on his charismatic authority.

But the MK stonewalled, with Mahlangu saying, “When the president goes to the dentist there is a hoo-hah in South Africa, I don’t know why. We will meet on November 4 at the IEC.”

Zuma’s precise medical records and diagnoses remain largely confidential under medical privacy laws, but his health status has repeatedly been a point of legal, political and public discussion.

Zuma’s representatives maintain that as a former head of state, his medical care is co-ordinated via the South African National Defence Force’s Military Health Service. If Zuma was indeed admitted to a private hospital, it discredits MK’s comment that Zuma was not facing a medical emergency.

Recent visits to health-care facilities continue to be managed as private matters between his medical team, family and military health officials.

The MK, Zuma Foundation and his family have not released further information.

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