Chris Hani’s former chief bodyguard on why he joined ranks of MK party

Phumlani Kubukile and Lulamile Jack — two former bodyguards of assassinated South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Chris Hani — have left the ANC where they worked in the security intelligence unit to join Jacob Zuma-linked Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

The two are among 24 people named on Wednesday, 17 January as the newly registered political party’s provincial conveners and coordinators. 

Former bodyguards of Chris Hani join MK party

Kubukile was the chief bodyguard of the late political activist and Umkhonto weSizwe chief of staff who was assassinated in 1993.

He also worked as bodyguard to Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Zoleka Capa during her two terms as mayor of the OR Tambo District Municipality.

Read: Chris Hani’s ‘daughter’ dumps ANC for Zuma-backed uMkhonto weSizwe party

Another notable name featuring on the list dominated by former ANC members and affiliates, is that of Fumanekile Booi, a former member of the ANC’s so-called self-defence units.

Booi, Kubukile and Jack are conveners of MK in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Limpopo respectively.

ANC’s Booi follows suit

Booi was also the regional chairman of the now disbanded MK Military Veterans’ Association in the Western Cape while Jack chaired the association in Limpopo.

He was also one of the ANC anti-apartheid activists who applied to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Amnesty Committee for amnesty in 1999.

He sought amnesty for killing policeman Nicholas Els in July 1990, in Langa, during a shootout between police and the ANC’s self-defence unit, the South African Press Association (Sapa) reported at the time.

Read: Shabir Shaik joins Zuma-linked MK party to ‘recruit members of Indian community’

The ‘last straw’ for Hani’s chief bodyguard

While Jack declined to comment, Kubukile told the Citizen in an exclusive interview on Thursday that leaving ANC was long overdue.

“I have been vocal about the failures of the ANC government — both within the structures of MK Military Veterans and in the social media,” Kubukile explained.

“I tried in vain to influence the ANC into allowing MK members to participate in the renewal of the ANC by being accorded a quota like all the other leagues and alliance partners.

“Noting that the ANC has long deviated from its strategy and tactics, the last straw was the announcement that the DA is the preferred ANC coalition partner,” he said.

Kubukile added that he knew that the ANC had been successfully captured by the imperialists.

“This because, it cannot be expected that the DA can ever support the land quest and nationalization and radical economic transformation in general. These by the way are also enshrined in the Freedom Charter,” he added.

He said he didn’t notify the ANC of his resignation but “I have deliberately breached the ANC constitution by joining MK Party as a means of my resignation.”

Asked if Hani would be delighted by the formation of MK Party, Kubukile said as a dedicated communist, Chris Hani would have long rallied the people against the stagnant and regressing ANC.

Read: Defections to MK rife in North West, Free State

“The ANC has long deviated from the people inspired Freedom Charter which is what Chris Hani was preaching. By the way, I maintain that the South African Communist Party, as part of the national democratic revolution, was supposed to be the one championing this but it has been marred by the same irreversible challenges as the ANC. Two sides of the same coin,” said Kubukile.

He added: “Yes if all means of redressing the wrongs from within were exhausted, he would have supported the move.”

MK secretary general Thanduxolo Dyodo promised to issue an official response on behalf of the members. His comments will be added once received.

Ripple effect in ANC – security expert

Security expert Paul O’Sullivan believes if MK members working as protectors of politicians in public positions and within the ANC’s internal security cluster continue leaving in droves, this might have a ripple effect on the security system of the ANC and that of the country.

“This will leave a void in the ANC, which will need to be filled by either private security companies paid by the ANC, or by police, paid for by the tax-payer.

“If the latter, then one can only expect to see crime continue to rise exponentially as it has been doing under a cadre-led police service, at the expense of the tax-payer, while the politicians in public office, are 100% safe in their tax-payer funded and secure cocoons,” O’Sullivan said.

Chris Hani assassination

Hani was assassinated on 10 April 1993 by Polish national Janusz Waluś  while returning home from the shops. He reportedly given his bodyguards the weekend off.  

Waluś was sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis, who was also implicated in the murder.

Both men have since been granted paroles.  

The ANC’s comments will be published once received.

Now read: New party, same old broken promises: IFP not worried about MK threat