‘People appreciate what MK party is doing’ – Bongani Baloyi on why he’s joining Zuma

Former Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi has confirmed that he will be joining the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

Baloyi held a press conference in Soweto on Thursday where he announced that he would be deregistering his young political party Xiluva and throwing his support behind former president Jacob Zuma’s party.

“We as the executive of Xiluva unanimously agreed to the following, that we are going to deregister Xiluva with the IEC effective immediately, number two, we will all effectively as the executive join the MK party,” Baloyi said.

Xiluva members join MK party

He thanked his supporters and encouraged them to follow him to the MK party in their respective areas.

“The collective leadership will encourage our members to join the MK party. We send our sincere thanks and appreciation to all our members for their collective contributions and sacrifices,” he said.

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Baloyi said he had been approached by various parties who wanted him to join their ranks.

‘Time for fragmentation is over’

He said the MK party was the obvious choice because of the closeness of his values and those of the party.

“When we looked at Mkhonto, we saw ourselves,” he said.

He continued in Zulu saying: “We saw this thing rising up and that there is no white person involved, we are taking this.

“They were telling us to go and consolidate with other parties that had funding from the Oppenheimers. We resisted a lot of pressure.”

He said he was pleased to work with Zuma in his consolidation of the forces of the left in a bid for economic and social redress.

“The time for fragmentation is over. We went to the elections thinking we had the best vision, but people spoke, and decisively. So people endorsed and appreciated what the MK party is doing,” he said.

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Baloyi is the latest of several politicians who have crossed over to the MK party recently.

This list includes former Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deputy president Floyd Shivambu and former speaker of Johannesburg, Colleen Makhubele.

Political analyst Sipho Seepe said the MK party was consolidating power and attracting all left-leaning leaders to its ranks.

“The entry of the MK party into the political space meant that the EFF could no longer claim to be the only alternative to the ANC. For the past 10 years, the EFF dominated and prided itself as the representative of the left. Shivambu’s resignation comes at a time when the EFF is at its most vulnerable after its less than stellar performance at the ballot box,” he said.