The Umkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) has unveiled former ANC MP and NEC member Tony Yengeni as its second deputy president.
WATCH:
Until his unveiling, Yengeni was a member of the ANC. And he was constantly at loggerheads with Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula.
Yengeni was unveiled by the president of the MK Party, Jacob Zuma, in Durban following a party meeting.
Zuma said Yengeni had to be appointed to strengthen the party. This while Dr John Hlophe, the other deputy president, focuses on parliamentary matters.
He stressed that he “comes very far with Yengeni, and I trust him”.
“Another leader who will also be with us all the time, partly also, by the way, because the current president of Umkhonto Wesizwe, I am sure you all know (about my advanced age)… Therefore, we are strengthening the work of our party because we are looking forward, we are not looking on the other side of the mountain. We look at the mountain that we are going to take and lead this country, which is a serious matter.
“That comrade of ours who is going to join us at the top leadership is Tony Yengeni. Tony Yengeni is a cadre of many, many years, a man who took a decision as a young man to go and fight and free this country,” Zuma said when he announced Yengeni before the media and MK supporters in Durban.
In his acceptance speech, Yengeni said he shared a lot in common with Zuma, including their years in the trenches and their prosecution for alleged arms deal transgressions.
“I was one of the few senior leaders charged, I was convicted in the so-called car discount case, which was politically motivated and shameful in the manner it was handled.
“They even sent me to prison, guess who came to Malesburg prison to visit me? Comrade Jacob Zuma. As the deputy president of the ANC, that solidarity cuts very deep.
“Later, they were after Zuma himself, charging him for the arms deal, a case that has hung over his head for more than two decades. Justice delayed is justice denied. The fact that the trial drags on today is a serious travesty of justice,” Yengeni said.
