As the MK Party enters yet another turbulent chapter, Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane is making a final, fervent push to assert her leadership in Mpumalanga – not just against rival Mary Phadi, but against what she calls an ANC-backed Stratcom invasion of the party’s soul.
Mkhwebane has activated an aggressive mobilisation campaign to bus supporters from across Mpumalanga and even as far as KwaZulu-Natal to the Mbombela High Court, where the party’s leadership dispute will be heard on July 8.
In a sharply worded letter to MKP commanders, Mkhwebane called on “all members across the province” to stand united “in defence of the soul, principles and values of our organisation”.
She urged subregional leaders to collect donations, organise transport, and ensure “maximum participation”.
“Your presence in Nelspruit will send a powerful message of unity and resilience in the
spirit of building the organisation,” she wrote.
The convener’s strategy hinges not only on legal contestation but also on public optics: a packed courthouse of loyalists in MKP colours demonstrating she commands real, on-the-ground support. But her deeper narrative is that the fight is no longer just internal – it’s existential.
“This battle is not against Mary Phadi,” she told Sunday World, “but against the soul of MKP, which is under attack by Stratcom and ANC using all these [means] to weaken MKP.”
Mkhwebane says her effort is supported by MKP president Jacob Zuma’s affidavit, which insists that Phadi is not a party member and should be removed from her position in the Mpumalanga legislature.
Meanwhile, social media chatter has added fuel to the fire. A faceless character known as “Baas Kruger” has been spreading claims that speaker of the legislature Lindi Masina is colluding with Phadi to undermine MKP’s internal structures and preserve ANC influence within the opposition benches.
The allegations, which include a claim that constituency funds are being deposited into Phadi’s personal bank account, have been dismissed as misleading and baseless by the Mpumalanga provincial legislature.
“The allegations by the so-called ‘Baas Kruger’ about the speaker and the allocation of the MKP constituency funds are ill-informed, baseless and devoid of the truth,” said
legislature spokesperson Paul Mbenyane.
“The ‘source’ also refers to Ms Masina as the ANC speaker, which is even confusing and shows some lack of understanding of the distinction between the legislature and the ANC and the related processes involved.
“The legislature continues to allocate political party funding to all six represented parties as per the information provided by those parties – unless otherwise legally and lawfully advised,” Mbenyane said.
Mkhwebane’s mobilisation campaign has triggered a counteroffensive. Supporters of
Phadi have been circulating voice notes urging their own ranks to descend on the courthouse in defence of their leader.
What was meant to be a display of party unity may now resemble a battlefield of divided loyalties – one movement, two war cries.
The fallout has already spilt into the electoral arena. Several recent by-elections saw ANC candidates reclaiming ground in former MKP strongholds, as internal divisions paralysed its campaign machinery. MKP candidates were either backed or boycotted based on factional allegiance, costing the party crucial wards and eroding the momentum it had begun to build.
