‘Zuma show is a cult’ – Experts say MK party is ‘spaza shop’ with dictator firing members

Experts have questioned uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party leader Jacob Zuma’s authority to expel members as an unelected leader, saying he does not practise what he preaches.

“Zuma has turned the party into a spaza shop by hiring people and firing as he pleased,” said Zakhele Ndlovu, a politics lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The actions by Zuma and his party top brass smacked of dictatorship and undermined democracy in the party.

‘This is a cult’

“This is not a political party, this is a cult,” Ndlovu said.

“If Zuma says jump, they jump, they don’t ask any questions. There will not be stability in the party as long as it is led by one man.”

Ndlovu was reacting to the expulsion of MK’s secretary-general Arthur Zwane through a personal letter by Zuma.

The letter confirmed Zuma’s earlier letter in which he relieved Zwane of duty as secretary-general.

In the latest letter, he told Zwane he expected him to “cooperate fully” with his decision and “desist from continuing to serve in his capacity” as secretary-general.

ALSO READ: Not again?! Zuma fires MK Party SG Zwane over claims of mismanagement

Ndlovu said Zuma was abusing his popularity among the people.

“This is a Zuma show. Mangosuthu [Buthelezi] was a darling of the Zulus, but now that he is no more, Zuma has no competition because he knows there are people who would die for him,” Ndlovu said.

MK should not have contested the general election without holding an elective conference to elect leadership and adopt a constitution, he said.

“They are now quiet about the conference and there is no attempt to elect a leadership any time soon,” he said.

Lack of democratic structures, policies

Prof Ntsikelelo Breakfast, director of the Centre for Peace Security and Conflict Resolution at Nelson Mandela University, said Zuma’s action demonstrated a lack of democracy in MK.

“They make decisions in the dark. The party needs to hold a conference to elect leadership and adopt a constitution with a code of conduct.

“When and by whom are these decisions to expel members taken as there is no elected leadership or an adopted constitution? Their actions undermine democracy,” Breakfast said.

Zuma had no authority to remove members in the party as an individual, he said.

MK had not scheduled any conference this year and indications were that an elective conference would not be held any time soon.

ALSO READ: Zuma pushes out Arthur Zwane as MK party SG

This rendered all MK’s existing structures and policies it used as an interim arrangement with no constitutional mandates.

But when he was hauled before the ANC disciplinary action for joining and voting for an opposition party, Zuma expected the ANC to be fair to him, prior to his expulsion.

He had not lived up to what preached when it came to his party membership, whom he gave a raw deal on disciplinary matters. The ink has not yet dried since MK expelled a group of five of its senior members – including party founder Jabulani Khumalo on unexplained charges – when the axe fell on Zwane.

Others victims of Zuma’s high-handed approach were party treasurer-general Rochelle Davidson, Ray Khumalo, Bheki Manzini and Lebo Moepeng.

The party announced in April that the national leadership core took the decision to expel group. Breakfast said MK had potential in South African politics and it almost took KwaZulu-Natal if it calculated properly.

It only needed to put its house in order. Breakfast and Ndlovu both expressed doubt about MK’s survival after Zuma has gone.