Expelled MK party members told to move out of parliamentary houses, maintain they still ‘love’ Zuma

A group of expelled uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party members who have been removed from Parliament say they have been told to move out of their parliamentary homes.

In a media briefing on Thursday, the 18 members said they had refused to move out and were challenging their removal from parliament in the courts.

“We are still in village – they tried removing us. They were sending letters to say we must be out, but parliament said they have a way of dealing with these matters,” said former student command leader Thami Khuzwayo.

‘We still love president Zuma’

Khuzwayo, along with other expelled members, said they still believed in the leadership of MK party president Jacob Zuma despite the recent events that have affected them.

“We love the president and this has nothing to do with the president. It has to do with this group of guys who are putting our organisation into disrepute,” he said.

ALSO READ: Parliamentary chaos looms as MK party MPs challenge sacking by Zuma

Khuzwayo said he believes that Zuma was “not aware” of the injustices that the expelled members of parliament (MPs) have suffered.

“We will remain in the party until president Zuma says he does not need us in the party,” Khuzwayo said.

Benchwarmers

The Citizen understands that some of the MPs had resigned from permanent jobs to become MPs for the MK party. Some had even invested their time and money in campaign work.

Despite this, they said they believed in what the MK party stood for and its constitution.

“We believe in the people’s mandate and we believe in what the MK party promises people and we have seen the MK party delivering,” Khuzwayo said.

He said he was not sure about the reasons for their dismissal from the party, but there has been speculation that some of the MK MPs were bench warmers for close friends and family of the top leadership of the party.

“We will go back to parliament, it’s not going to be nice we know. We are not warming seats for anyone but ourselves,” he said.

Recently, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)’s former deputy president Floyd Shivambu joined the MK party, along with other Zuma loyalists who had previously taken political refuge in the EFF.

ALSO READ: Zuma creating a ‘personality cult’ in his MK party

Meanwhile, the group of beleaguered MK party members said they were afraid of taking part in parliamentary duties despite still being invited to attend meetings and participate in other activities.