In a political week that has fed gossipmongers a feast fit for the gods, MK Party president Jacob Zuma faced the biggest test: let his daughter live, or let her leave? For “princess” Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, living is equal to doing whatever the hell she pleases.
And live she did, specifically when she hurled a bag of political sewage at the party’s public image. Her father’s subsequent stance was tantamount to dangling the guillotine over her political future.
To onlookers, Duduzile is no ordinary MKP member. She is more than just her father’s defender. She is his echo, his emblem, his ever-loyal corporal. If Zuma is the storm, she is the lightning strike. If he is the hymn, she is the chorus.
And yet, before February 10, 2025, none of us foresaw a scenario where Nxamalala would be forced to place his own flesh and blood at the altar for a higher cause – political discipline within the party.
On Tuesday evening, her X (formerly Twitter) account became a battleground, firing off disparaging messages at MKP secretary-general Floyd Shivambu.
It all began innocently enough, with a simple nod to the legitimacy of members who joined MKP in December 2023. An account, widely associated with Shivambu, responded with a unifying declaration: “Members of the MK Party who joined in December 2023 are as important as members who joined on 10 February 2025. MK Party is for all members!”
That was like a flame tossed into a petrol drum for Zuma-Sambudla: “Floyd I’m not scared of you! Tell your minions to F** off … bloody mafikizolos (newcomers).”
And as if that were not enough, she purred some more: “F** you, Floyd.”
Shockwaves spread. Questions arose about the stability of the MKP.
By the time hell’s fury died down, she sent out a not-so-cryptic sign-off for the night: “They will expel me tomorrow… It is well with my soul.”
And indeed, if the MKP constitution is anything to go by, the writing was not just on the wall – it was embossed in stone.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, as is customary for the former head of state who reshuffled cabinet in the dead of the night, Zuma issued a press statement commanding his daughter to apologise – to the Shivambu, the party and the nation.
Zuma responded not with paternal leniency but with the sternness of a party leader favouring discipline over DNA. Failure to comply, he warned, would result in her expulsion.
Was this, per adventure, Zuma’s Herod Antipas moment?
For those familiar with biblical politics, the parallels were unsettling. Herod, a ruler bound by duty but trapped by enmeshment – the psychological condition where personal and relational boundaries blur to the point of dysfunction – had once stood at the mercy of his stepdaughter’s whim. Salome had danced. He offered her anything she wanted, even half his kingdom. But she demanded the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod could have refused but he caved in.
Now, in the Kingdom of KwaDakwadunuse, where politics and prophecy often blur, Zuma faced his own Salome. The princess had danced on X.
Would her father give her the head she craved and obviously loathed?
In the end Duduzile capitulated but only slightly.
Had this been a true baptism, she would have been fully submerged, washing away arrogance and defiance. Instead, she merely dipped a toe and called it atonement.
Her apology was polished, strategic, and yet woefully incomplete.
“I hereby extend this unconditional public apology to President Zuma and uMkhonto weSizwe Party leadership for the profanity used in my recent posts on X.”
A careful offering. A neatly wrapped gift missing its most vital component: an actual apology to Shivambu, the man she had publicly besmirched, ridiculed, and called a mafikizolo.
There was no mention of regret for attacking him. No recognition of the harm done. No attempt to delete the posts that had sent the party into turmoil.
Frankly, this was Zuma’s moment of purification, a chance to rid MKP of the “family stokvel” stigma and prove that blood is not thicker than the mkhonto.
He blinked.
Like his own release from prison in 2023 – when a presidential remission spared him from serving his full sentence – Zuma’s daughter, too, was granted a lifeline. A pardon without punishment.
The gallows had been built. The blade sharpened. The decree signed. And yet, at the final moment, the executioner stepped back.
Unfortunately, Zuma’s candidacy toward enmeshment is plain for all to see. He formed MKP yet refuses to sever ties with the ANC. How, then, do we logically expect him to offer a pound of his own flesh?
Floyd the Baptist’s head remains intact. But for how long?
• Tshwarelo Eseng Mogakane is Mpumalanga correspondent
