Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla at the swearing-in ceremony of MK party members at Goodhope Chamber in Cape Town on 25 June 2024. Picture: Gallo Images/Brenton Geach
Disciplinary proceedings against uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party MP Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla are in underway, while two other members have been expelled.
The MK party held a media briefing on Monday to announce its various leadership structures.
During the press conference, MK party secretary-general Floyd Shivambu revealed that after receiving a report from the national disciplinary committee, national officials had decided to expel two members for bringing the party into disrepute.
One of the expelled members previously served in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), while the other was deployed in the Mpumalanga provincial legislature.
“These two expulsions demonstrate that the MK party would not and will not tiptoe on matters that relate to internal discipline,” Shivambu said on Monday.
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He stressed that the party was at a critical stage, demanding utmost discipline and composure from its leaders and members.
“Members will always take tune from the leadership, and if we see signs of ill-discipline and divisions, the membership will be ill-disciplined and divided,” he said.
“If we do not show signs of unity, the organisation will dwindle into insignificance,” he warned.
His remarks followed a social media outburst from Zuma-Sambudla, in which she swore at and criticised Shivambu, calling him “useless” and the “worst thing that has happened to the party”.
Although Zuma-Sambudla later issued two apologies, MK party deputy secretary-general Nombuso Mkhize confirmed that disciplinary proceedings against the party MP were “in progress”.
Mkhize stated that the party’s top officials held a meeting last week during which Zuma-Sambudla’s comments were “deliberated intensively”.
She added that MK party president Jacob Zuma had emphasised in the meeting that any member who transgresses the party’s constitution would be subjected to internal disciplinary action.
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A detailed report is now being compiled.
“A complete comprehensive report which indicates that this person on this day, at this time, did this and that … the misconduct must be clearly spelt out that this is the misconduct that that particular person has done, and that report must be submitted to the office of the secretary-general for processing and submission to submit to the national prosecutor of uMkhonto weSizwe,” Mkhize explained.
Regarding the two expulsions, Mkhize noted that the party was not in a position to disclose the names, as the individuals were appealing the outcomes of their disciplinary hearings.
“So we cannot then divulge their names.”
Meanwhile, Shivambu reiterated that the newly announced leadership structures would be disbanded if internal divisions persisted.
“If there is infighting and factionalism… we are going to have to discontinue that structure or isolate the people who are involved,” he said.
“If there is something we are going to decisively nip in the bud, it is factionalism and gatekeeping. Those are not the demons we are going to tolerate in uMkhonto weSizwe.”
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He also discouraged party members from bypassing internal processes to address grievances, particularly by visiting Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.
“People say, ‘We are just visiting the president, we just want to say thank you to the president, and we are just going introduce ourselves,’ and when they are there, they talk about internal dynamics and politics of uMkhonto weSizwe, and the leadership they are complaining or raising concerns about is not immediately there,” Shivambu said.
“If you want to raise organisational issues or issues that relate to governance, raise it in the relevant structures.”
Internal disputes within the MK party have increasingly played out in public in recent weeks.
The latest incident saw former Mpumalanga convener Mary Phadi holding a parallel rally alongside the party’s current convener, former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
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