What was expected to be a courtroom showdown laced with political explosives and Jacob Zuma’s affidavit in Mpumalanga fell flat on Monday.
The Mbombela High Court failed to hear the urgent counter-application against MK Party provincial convener Mary Phadi.
Dozens of MKP members who had come to witness the legal firestorm—some to support Phadi, others to denounce her—were left confused and disappointed after discovering that the matter was not enrolled.
This was confirmed by Phadi’s legal representative, Advocate Zandile Mshololo, who spoke to MKP members and the media outside court.
She said the matter, which her client only learned about late on Thursday, was neither enrolled on the opposed nor the unopposed roll.
“It is also not enrolled as an urgent application because they did not comply with the rules of the high court. Therefore, it was not heard,” she said.
Sunday World broke the story at the weekend, revealing that Mshololo had been urgently briefed to defend Phadi after the unexpected filing of a counter-application.
The legal drama stems from a counter-application filed by the MK Party leadership to remove Phadi from both the party and the Mpumalanga Legislature.
It follows a months-long tug of war after Phadi was expelled in 2024, challenged her expulsion, and was reinstated by a court order on December 4.
At the centre of the application is Phadi’s use of a popular isiZulu proverb—“Sishaya inja kuphume umnikazi”—which the party interpreted as an insult to its then-secretary-general Floyd Shivambu.
Phadi maintains the phrase was figurative, used in a political context, and is now being twisted to vilify her.
The situation became more complex when Zuma deposed an affidavit—signed and initialled in Nkandla on May 30—supporting the MKP’s position that Phadi’s conduct was divisive and disrespectful to the party leadership.
Ironically, four days after commissioning the affidavit, Zuma signed a letter removing Shivambu from his position.
That affidavit forms the foundation of the counter-application, which also seeks to compel Legislature Speaker Lettie Masina to eject Phadi from the provincial legislature.
The MKP accused Masina of favouring Phadi due to her ANC alignment and called her conduct “an affront to democracy”.
Yet, their legal efforts hit a procedural brick wall on Monday.
Phadi, who had only received notice of the application on Thursday, scrambled to KwaZulu-Natal the next day to sign an affidavit with her newly appointed advocate.
She addressed more than 50 supporters in a virtual meeting on Saturday, expressing shock over the fresh allegations.
“I never called that man a dog,” she told supporters.
Meanwhile, the party remains divided between factions loyal to Phadi and those backing Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who has also laid claim to the position of provincial convener.
With court proceedings now delayed indefinitely and tensions still simmering, MKP’s internal war continues to deepen—this time with Zuma’s name dragged into a failed legal assault that never made it to the bench.
No date has been set for the urgent counter-application to be heard.
