umKhonto Wesizwe members celebrate outside the Electoral court at the High court in Johannesburg, 26 March 2024. They are celebrating the courts decision in their favour over the ANC. Picture: Neil McCartney / The Citizen
The internal struggle in the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party is reminiscent of the Congress of the People’s (Cope) ultimate disintegration due to internal fights, according to a political analyst.
It has emerged that the expelled MK interim leader, Jabulani Khumalo, has written to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) and requested it urgently remove former president Jacob Zuma as the face of the party and its president.
In a letter dated 5 May, Khumalo accused Zuma of “several acts of misconduct” concerning party activities.
According to Khumalo, Zuma occupied these positions “fraudulently” and through “illegal manoeuvres”.
While he states in the letter that he sent confirmation to the IEC, confirming that Zuma would be the face of the party, he, however, said at no stage did he confirm that Zuma would be the president of the party.
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“Mr Zuma’s conduct has brought [MK] into disrepute and he has acted contrary to the terms of the constitution of the party. He has purported to remove me as a party leader without following any procedures,” Khumalo said.
Political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said the efforts to remove Zuma and the implications for the new party’s direction was “a big blow in a big way”.
He said: “You know, the party in question has been dealt with a blow. Imagine a party is imploding before it participates in elections and the party has never had a conference. How much more [will happen] when those events take place?
“It is the same thing Cope went through after [participating in] its first elections.”
The IEC noted it had received the letter from Khumalo but confirmed Zuma as the registered party leader.
ALSO READ: Zuma’s party ‘won’t be affected’ by instability – analysts
Breakfast said the ongoing leadership battles between Khumalo and Zuma could hamper the performance of MK in the 29 May election, as growing tensions were likely to cast aspersions on the integrity of the party.
“I think the party will kick off its participation in elections on the back foot. What we are seeing play out is likely that it will affect its cohesion and how it goes, said Breakfast.
“Even in KwaZulu-Natal, which could be their stronghold, I think it will not be a walk in the park. It won’t be easy for them to garner support or to solicit votes.”
André Duvenhage of North-West University said the infighting was likely to create instability for MK, considering the party was growing fast. “With growth and instability we know there’s a lot of leadership challenges,” he said.
“We know that the profile of Jacob Zuma in many ways is problematic,” he said.
ALSO READ: IEC responds to MK party founder Khumalo’s demand to remove Zuma from ballot
“This is a potential disruption of the MK party but I think the momentum at the moment, behind Jacob Zuma, is of such a nature that it will be difficult to stop him at this point. And if they stop him, he can expect patterns of instability.”
According to Duvenhage, it was unclear and not easy to determine if the move by Khumalo was merely an attempt to clinch power after his expulsion last week, alongside four others.
“This is not clear how the structures and processes work within the MK,” said Duvenhage.
“How do they elect the leadership and what are the processes or the protocols? All of this happened too quickly. Taking this into consideration, I think it’s going to be extremely difficult to measure this.”
Meanwhile, election analyst Michael Atkins said to change anything would require Khumalo, or someone else, to challenge the letter in court.
ALSO READ: Exiled MK founder wants Zuma removed as face and president of party
He said for the IEC to act on Khumalo’s letter, they would have to have strong documentary evidence. “We don’t know whether this dispute will end in court. Despite the high tensions, I do not see that a case exists for any urgent matters to be heard.
“If the dispute is [about] who should be on the party lists, then that could be resolved after the election. What would make it difficult now is if there is clear evidence that MK has not complied with the law for contesting the elections. But we don’t know this now,” said Atkins.
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