MK party leader Jacob Zuma (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party president Jacob Zuma said on Friday some members were lucky that he had not fired them and reiterated that the organisation would not hold an elective conference.
Zuma has removed more than 10 national MK leaders since the party’s inception on 16 December 2023.
“They say I am firing people all the time. We didn’t come here to play. If you want to play, we are not playing; that is why we are not going to go to a conference that has white money,” he told a media briefing after the party announced new leaders.
“We are only going to meet as a party to discuss how we are taking the party forward. If you can’t listen, we’ll remove you. You are lucky because [the national leadership] warned me. [Otherwise] I would have fired a lot of people by now. The leaders have said I should wait a bit, and they will fix it.”
On Friday the party announced Bongani Mncwango as its new secretary general, replacing Floyd Shivambu, and making him the eighth person to occupy the position in less than two years. The party said it had terminated Shivambu’s membership on 15 July.
Nomsa Dlamini becomes the new deputy secretary general, replacing Nombuso Mkhize, while Alec Mguni was named the new national organiser, replacing Joe Ndhela who will now be the policy coordinator.
MK national chairperson Nkosinathi Nhleko said the party had reviewed the conduct of Shivambu — who was fired as secretary general over an unsanctioned trip to Malawi — and determined that he had publicly defined himself outside its ranks and ideological line, thereby breaching the trust placed in him.
Shivambu has since been involved in what he calls a national consultative process to launch his political party, called Mayibuye iAfrica.
On Friday, Mayibuye iAfrika announced Mkhize as its new head of presidency. Asked whether the MK party was aware that Mkhize had joined Shivambu, Nhleko said she was free to join whoever she wanted.
In a briefing two months ago, after his axing, Shivambu told journalists that R7 million had been stolen from the MK party, but did not say by whom. At Friday’s briefing, MK treasurer general Mpiyakhe Limba countered that Shivambu should have admitted that he had left the party with a R28 million debt.
Limba added that the party had appointed a consulting company of qualified chartered accountants and auditors for an independent overview of its finances.
“The purpose of auditing is for continuous improvement so that we have a proper system in place,” Limba said.
“We do have findings which are more focused on our bookkeeping, rather than to say there’s any form of corruption.”
