EFF tried to persuade MK party to attend first Parly sitting – Shivambu

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu says the party has met with the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party to persuade them to attend Friday’s parliamentary sitting.

Led by Jacob Zuma, the MK party is boycotting Friday’s sitting until its allegation of vote rigging is attended to.

It is asking for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) for a recount of the votes.

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On Tuesday, the party filed an urgent application at the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) to interdict parliament from convening the sitting.

The party has 58 seats in the National Assembly.

Zuma argues that parliamentary processes cannot proceed without its members. The party also wants the apex court to order President Cyril Ramaphosa to set new dates for another election. This must be held within 90 days of the order in terms of Section 49 of the Constitution.

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In response, parliament said without any court order, it would proceed with the planned sitting. It also cancelled flights and accommodation arrangements for MK party members to avoid a “fruitless expenditure”.

Shivambu: EFF spoke to MK

Shivambu told SABC’s Face The Nation that the EFF tried to persuade the MK party to attend Friday’s proceedings.

“We are going to participate in the Friday processes. We had a meeting today [Tuesday] with the MK party to try to persuade MK to form part of that particular process and will be engaging with other political parties that even when the puppets of the establishment try to concoct any neoliberal agenda that seeks to continue with the inequality and poverty of black people, we should fight back,” said Shivambu.

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“Parties should field candidates for Speaker, Deputy Speaker and President. We want to appeal to the conscious members of the ANC that if they’re given illegal and unlawful instructions, they must vote against such nonsense so that we can constitute a proper government that is going to lead South Africa.”

MK party in KZN

Like the Patriotic Alliance (PA), the EFF believes it would be disingenuous for parties to form a government without the MK party in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

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“We believe whatever government that is formed in KZN should include the MK party because a decisive number of the people of KZN have voted for MK party,” said Shivambu.

“It will be just pure opportunism and unethical to want to constitute a government when a decisive number of the people of KwaZulu-Natal have said that the MK party is the preferred party.”

Last week, PA leader Gayton McKenzie said the MK party should not be isolated in KZN.

“They’re [business] trying to put a coalition that excludes Jacob Zuma. Business needs to leave this obsession to see Jacob Zuma hang from a tree. They need to make peace with the fact that people love Jacob Zuma despite all efforts against him,” he said.

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“Let’s move on and put the country first, and not to arrange everything for business. For business, the country can go to hell as long as Jacob Zuma is not part of it,” said McKenzie.