MK party leader Jacob Zuma looks on during a press conference in Sandton, Johannesburg on 22 August 2024. Picture: EMMANUEL CROSET / AFP
Patriotic Alliance leader and Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has warned that only a united government of national unity (GNU) can stop a Jacob Zuma “tsunami”.
Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party has being making headlines due to the number of high-profile politicians joining the party.
Several political formations have also recently closed shop to join the MK party, including Colleen Makhubele’s South African Rainbow Alliance (Sara), the Xiluva Party of former Sedibeng mayor Bongani Baloyi, and Andile Mngxitama’s Black First Land First.
Last week, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP and former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and former ANC member and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) premier Willies Mchunu joined Zuma’s party and were presented as key figures in “advancing” the MK party’s mission to “promote accountability and integrity in governance.” Former EFF deputy president has also joined the MK party.
McKenzie said “we [the government] are in serious trouble.”
“I remember when I was om the Daily Maverick platform…with John Steenhuisen, Hlabisa, Mashaba, the question was asked by Stephen Grootes ‘ what to do you think of MK and Zuma’s chance’? All of them at that stage said he’s not a threat.
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“I then said to Stephen Grootes, the tapes are there. I said they are all lying, they are not living in reality, Zuma is going to be a force to be reckoned with, Zuma is going to come in like a night tornado, well the rest his history,” McKenzie told Biz News this week.
McKenzie warned that there is more to come from Zuma.
“If you think Zuma’s come through like a tornado, he’s going through in 2026 like a tsunami. Zuma is working day and night. People don’t want to hear this, but we must be realistic about it. Zuma is bringing in whether you call them state capture guys, criminals, he’s bringing in people with a following and that’s what politics is about.
“If they [ANC] are not careful, Zuma is going to become the biggest party and the GNU is the only thing that can stop Zuma, not the ANC,” McKenzie said.
Last week, Political analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela said Zuma’s MK party was on the path of recruiting top African National Congress (ANC) leaders to dismantle his former party’s “stronghold on power.”
“The MK party wants top ANC leaders to do two things: To dismantle the ANC’s stronghold in power and to give an impression that actually it is the alternative for all senior ANC leaders that may be disgruntled with the party.
“Thirdly, the MK party is providing a leeway for people who may be frustrated with deployment opportunities. The ANC having lost its majority, no longer has power or room to deploy all its leaders to certain positions in government in the state in general,” Mkhabela said.
Mkhabela added that the MK party is “proving” in the case of Mchunu and others that it is the alternative platform for people seeking new deployments when their old party has lost power.
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