JOHANNESBURG, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Police in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province said they have arrested a 51-year-old man, whose vehicle collided with former president Jacob Zuma's armored vehicle Thursday night, and charged him with drunk, reckless and negligent driving, local media reported Friday.

Zuma and his bodyguards were traveling from Nkandla to Eshowe, in KwaZulu-Natal Province, to campaign for the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party when the crash happened on the R66 road at around 6:40 pm. No one was injured, and the former president was evacuated and taken to his residence, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) said in a report.

"The MK Party claims that there is foul play in the road crash that the former president Jacob Zuma and his bodyguards were involved in," the SABC report said.

"What happened last night I must say that unfortunately, we have been waiting for it to happen, and it has happened because the president was warned that he will be laying in hospital," Musa Mkhize, the party's head of elections in the province, told the SABC. "We don't know what more is still coming."

The arrested individual is expected to appear before the Eshowe Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, the SABC report said.

The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa, the country's election management body, said Thursday that it has upheld an objection against Zuma's candidacy in the May 29 elections.

Zuma, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court in 2021, was nominated as a candidate for the elections by the MK Party. Enditem

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