The recruitment of new uMkhonto weSizwe Party members who were deployed to key party positions has created hostilities that will probably degenerate into deadly skirmishes before the municipal elections in November.
This is the warning from Zakhele Ndlovu, a University of KwaZulu-Natal academic and known political analyst. He described the situation in former president Jacob Zuma’s MK Party as “the old members versus new members” conundrum.
Ndlovu singled out eThekwini, the only metro in KZN, as the hotbed for possible jostling and fierce confrontation.
“The MK Party has become notorious for parachuting new members into leadership positions and this has created tension and resentment from those who joined the party upon its formation,” Ndlovu told the Mail & Guardian.
“Most of these new leaders come from the ANC and some of them via the EFF. You would recall that 99% of the senior leaders joined after the 2024 elections. The ‘old members versus new members’ conundrum is tearing the party apart. With the MK Party looking set to take control of eThekwini metro, there are growing fears of political assassinations within as the people not nominated fight to position themselves to become councilors.”
He said many of the MK Party’s rank and file were facing a similar fate as that bedeviling the country — unemployment. As such, they saw politics as a career that could earn them high salaries.
The fight over positions could turn deadly, Ndlovu said.
His comments come on the heels of Ayanda Dlamini, a Durban traditional healer who was among the key funders of the MK Party leading up to its maiden 2024 general elections, raising frustrations of his own.
Dlamini recently took to various public platforms and accused the party of favouring leaders who had defected from the ANC to the party and sidelining what he called the “core” MK Party members.
“If nominated, I would reject any junior position such as that of a councillor. It would be an insult considering the significant financial contribution I have made to the party,” he said.
Earlier this year, Dlamini said it was his desire for former ANC leaders not to be deployed to any leadership position at the MK Party, adding that they had failed. He said they would also bring “ANC tendencies” to the MK Party’s ranks.
Things came to a head on Monday when angry party members stormed the MK Party offices in Durban, demanding an audience with Zuma. They have given their party president until Wednesday to respond to their grievances.
They say the party members various communities nominated as councillor candidates have been muscled out and replaced by “parachutted” candidates.
The members are further calling for the heads of Willies Mchunu, the KZN convenor of elections, and Simphiwe Mpungose, the provincial elections coordinator. They want the pair to be sacked on allegations of strong-arm tactics and fraudulently placing their preferred candidates on the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s list of candidates for the municipal elections.
The concerned members say some of the MK Party community activists have been targeted for assassination by others in the party.
In its response, the MK Party said it had not concluded the candidates dispute process.
“We wish to place it on record that the participation of a candidate in the photoshoot does not mean that any dispute or complaint lodged against the candidate has been dismissed, ignored or concluded. The party’s dispute resolution and conflict resolution processes remain ongoing and will be concluded in accordance with the established organisational processes,” the party said.
The MK Party, which will be contesting the municipal elections for the first time, has declared eThekwini metro as its highly sought-after council. The party has lured Zandile Gumede, the former ANC eThekwini regional leader who commands a cult-like following in the region, to bolster its election machinery. Gumede was immediately elevated to the party’s top echelons, as the KZN provincial deputy convenor. With the MK Party yet to announce its mayoral candidate for the metro, Gumede, a former mayor in the same metro, looks set to be considered for the post if the party wins the outright majority there.
