Former uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) coordinator Nhlanhla Ngidi was apparently fired from his position following allegations that he was an ANC agent sent to infiltrate the party.
Following his unceremonious departure, a series of WhatsApp messages have since emerged that lay bare the internal strife within the ANC splinter grouping, whose face is former head of state Jacob Zuma.
The messages were leaked from social media groups, where MKP members lamented about the provincial interim leadership wanting to use their electoral support to bring back the ANC through the back door.
They charge that Ngidi headed that project.
Ngidi, a former head of provincial administration, was also the MKP premier candidate in KwaZulu-Natal.
“He was the one who told us not to sign signatures for IEC [Independent Electoral Commission] that were mandatory to have as a requirement to be included on the ballot paper,” reads one leaked WhatsApp message.
“Agents of the ANC inside the MK have shown themselves. We are coming for them one by one. We will remove them from the MK.”
Working with the ANC
The trigger for Ngidi’s removal was an election message he delivered while on a campaign trail in Chartsworth, where he said the MKP had no qualms about working with the ANC if it failed to garner an outright majority.
Ngidi explained: “We are willing to work with the ANC after the elections. So it will depend on whether they want to work with us. But our hands are open.”
He said the MKP was calling for the so-called black political parties to join hands, collaborate for a common cause, and wage a black struggle.
However, shortly after making the statement, the less-than-year-old political party wasted no time recalling him from his position.
Another WhatsApp message that Sunday World has seen reads: “We left the ANC because it was no longer representing the aspirations of poor people.
“We won’t have people who force us to work with them.”
In KwaZulu-Natal, the MKP is among the parties expected to emerge as the biggest winners at the May 29 general elections, including the DA, IFP, and EFF.
ANC provincial elective conference
While the ANC believes it will retain power in the province with the second-biggest registered voters after Gauteng, it is not clear whether the parties that have been engaging in fierce court battles will forge a pact should there be no outright winner in the province.
Ngidi, leading up to the ANC provincial elective conference in 2022, had aspirations to lead KwaZulu-Natal.
His campaign failed before taking off, with the Taliban faction making a clean sweep at the elective conference.
Recent poll results point to KwaZulu-Natal becoming a battleground with the possibility of a coalition government.
Attempts to solicit a response from Ngidi on Tuesday proved futile.
