Will Shivambu thrive or falter in Zuma’s MK?

Floyd Shivambu’s move from the EFF to the uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK) has the potential of being a beautiful masterstroke for him and MK, but it also has the potential of being severely career-limiting and disastrous for former president Jacob Zuma’s retirement home, the MK.

Because of how well the MK did in the election two months ago, people are already forgetting that it is a party of the disgruntled, just like Congress of the People (Cope) was.

But MK also has some disturbing flaws in its foundation and these may prove to be the seeds that lead to its own demise down the road.

The biggest seed that could see MK fall apart is that it is a personality-driven party. Zuma – and probably his daughter – calls the shots. It is his image and popularity in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) that led people to vote for the MK.

Zuma’s supporters are drawn from one nation in South Africa, the Zulu people.

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Some of the people who voted for the party see it as “our thing” and might make life difficult for someone like Shivambu coming into a senior leadership position, depriving one of their own an opportunity to lead “our own thing”.

A much bigger fundamental flaw in the MK’s foundation is that there has been a delay in the building of internal structures to capacitate the party and turn it into a compact unit capable of withstanding political storms that parties go through.

The MK will go through storms, guaranteed. One guaranteed storm is the fight for influential positions within the party and for employment positions in whatever election they’ll win in the future.

People voted for and joined the MK because they believe Zuma will change their immediate financial fortunes through rewarding positions.

They will not take kindly to the current process that has seen prominent people being parachuted in, just like Shivambu, when it was their hard work and sweat that won them votes.

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Shivambu is an educated intellectual who might just be what the party needs to build itself into a machine that already has votes, but his intellect might turn out to be something a family-run party find intimidating and lead to his isolation.

Since the MK has not had an elective conference thus far, all major decisions in the party are communicated from the office of the president, Zuma.

For instance, the resignation of secretary-general Arthur Zwane and his replacement with Dr Sifiso Maseko was communicated by that office.

When, days later, the decision was reversed it was announced from “the president’s office” too. As was the decision to fire Zwane and replace him with Maseko, again. Either a confused one-man show or disagreeing family members in charge.

Shivambu might have had disagreements with Julius Malema but he knew the field in which he was operating in the EFF.

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He was party cofounder and, together with Malema, built it into a unit with strong structures that made sure they avoided the fate that befell Cope.

He always knew and, in the main, accepted that he was always second-in-command after his bosom buddy Malema.

He has now stepped into the domain of another dictatorially inclined leader who, until last Thursday, was the EFF’s target of scorn.

Who can forget Shivambu shouting in parliament that when Zuma is done with his opponents “he will kill you”?

It is true that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics, but it is also true that some ill-considered political moves have ended careers. Shivambu may have just stepped into the lion’s den.

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