Is the grass really greener at the MK party?

Back when Cope seemed like it might become a serious political player, there was an interesting strategy to maximise media exposure on a budget.

It actually became a game behind the scenes in the media; a bet on who was crossing over next.

Every couple of weeks, some politician would announce a move. Many of those moves could have happened simultaneously but there’s that adage of small stones and ripples in a pond.

It worked so well yet everybody knew that, for the most part, the shift was due to disillusions within the ANC. Cope was a party that had some policy ideas that those who joined appeared to sign on to.

Mass migration to MK party

Today’s mass migration of politicians is happening around the MK party. The latest being Busisiwe Mkhwebane and Willies Mchunu. It’s still unclear what the realised policy differences are between the EFF and MK party, but if the reason for Mkhwebane making the switch is policy, I guess those differences must be there.

Perhaps in the week since leaving the EFF, she missed politics. Perhaps she didn’t plan her finances well and needed another income. Methinks, like Floyd Shivambu, there was just more opportunity for growth in a different kraal.

It’s the basic science of diffusion; excess concentration on one side of a permeable membrane will result in balance across the membrane over time. Unless of course, you’re Ace Magashule. Then you seemingly can’t even court Carl Niehaus.

ALSO READ: MK parliamentarians are hiding in plain sight

The movement from one party to another is always going to happen when you have big branded names in play and one shouldn’t be surprised, regardless of who it is that moves. That’s the nature of the political game. Remember the wild times of floor crossing?

However, historically, the people who joined other parties were welcomed because of their stature in the political realm. The same cannot be said of several recent MK party inductees. Those that do have stature behind them have also hinted that the reasons for moving were not exactly policy-motivated.

For Jacob Zuma, this isn’t exactly a problem because most will accept that he’ll be running the MK party until he dies. That doesn’t seem to be soon, since it appears that the best treatment for illness is medical parole. But one day someone will have to take over.

Will we see splinter parties forming?

If the motivation for movement to a party is growth within the party, then when the number one spot opens up, how do you control the scramble for it? How do you even engage the scramble for it when one of your most apparent policies is a conviction against democratic processes? That will be an interesting and telling time. One can almost start betting on how many splinter parties will form as a result of Zuma’s relinquishing the leadership in whatever manner.

So, we can expect plenty more shifts as positions remain up for grabs.

ALSO READ: ‘Those who win are those with money’ – Zuma on why MK party won’t have elective conferences

This is especially true when patronage is no longer as secure as it used to be under the dominance of the ANC and politicians want to secure their careers under a possibly more promising party in the short term.

So of course, it would seem that the grass is greener in the MK kraal for the moment but most of us aren’t in the kraal. We’re outside, looking in, at pastures that are probably overgrazed.

A politician moving to another political party means very little to the people voting for the party, especially when the move is so philosophically simple.

When last have you heard of an Orlando Pirates fan switching allegiance to Mamelodi Sundowns? It should be alarming that it’s easier for the people who run the country to flip-flop than for the rest of us to pick a new favourite soccer team.

That’s the game we’re in though and it makes it pretty questionable which party these leaders will be leading in 10 years’ time.