MK vets back Dlamini-Zuma for ANC presidency  

ANC presidential hopeful Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has received the backing of the governing party’s former military wing, Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA), to take over the party reins from President Jacob Zuma in December.

Speaking on the sidelines of the organisation’s fifth national conference in Ekurhuleni at the weekend, MKMVA president Kebby Maphatsoe said they were confident that the ANC’s branches would elect Dlamini-Zuma as party president at its 54th national elective conference later this year, TimesLIVE reported.

“Branches of the ANC are the ones who are going to decide who becomes president of the ANC. We respect comrade Cyril Ramaphosa as one of the leaders of the ANC‚ but our preference has always been comrade Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma succeeding [President Jacob Zuma]‚” he said.

The MKMVA, unlike other ANC structures, such as the Youth League and Women’s League, does not have the power to elect leaders at the party’s conference, but can lobby and campaign for its candidate among ANC members.

Maphatsoe, a staunch Zuma supporter, was also reelected unopposed as the MKMVA leader during the conference despite glaring divisions within the organisation, which saw some senior members boycott Zuma’s keynote address to delegates on Friday.

The breakaway group, known as the MK Council, has accused Maphatsoe and his backers of sowing divisions within the ANC. They had called for the conference to be canned, and questioned the legitimacy of some members attending the gathering.

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