MK Party provincial secretary in Mpumalanga, Abednego Mkhatshwa, has refuted claims that he wants his boss, Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane, dead, insisting his words were taken literally when he meant something else.
The unfolding ugly feud has reignited old divisions within the MKP’s Mpumalanga structures, which had been struggling to find unity since the removal of former provincial leader Mary Phadi.
Mkhwebane and Mkhatshwa worked together to have Phadi removed but now appear to have fallen out. Speaking to Sunday World, Mkhatshwa said he was deliberately entrapped into saying things that were later and twisted out of context.
He said the conversation happened after attending an “after-tears” for their late member, Sipho Johannes Vilakazi, who was buried in Sakhile township, Standerton, on October 4.
“You know how after-tears can be. It was very late, and Mkhwebane’s people insisted that we be driven to Bronkhorstspruit for a sleepover. It was already in the early hours of the next day when this happened. We agreed, not knowing it was a trap,” he said.
“On the way, we held conversations like normal comrades concerned about our movement in Mpumalanga. To my shock, days later I received a recording, and someone told me blatantly that sikubambile – ‘we got you.’”
He did not deny that it was his voice in the six-minute audio clip, but distanced himself from any intent to harm Mkhwebane.
“Look, we have a way of speaking as comrades. The words burn or kill were never meant to be literal. You can ask around – when we say ‘lo ngiyamushisa’, it means I’m going to spill the beans on them. That’s like killing their career,” Mkhatshwa told Sunday World.
“I’m speaking to my lawyers about dealing with the driver who recorded the conversation because he never obtained our consent. That recording is illegal, and they are now using it to tarnish my name.”
Mkhatshwa accused Mkhwebane of being out of touch with the party’s grassroots.
“She has not done anything to strengthen the structures on the ground. This is a general feeling, and I was talking about reporting her to the presidency of the MKP.”
In the recording, several slurring voices can be heard gossiping about Mkhwebane and lamenting the MKP’s by-election losses under her leadership, with one voice – identified as Mkhatshwa’s – saying:
“She is killing us. I’ve never seen such an askari. We are dying. The tyre must burn. I’m chasing Mkhwebane. I’m going to burn her… Burn her. The organisation will be free.”
Speaking to Sunday World, Mkhwebane said she had no doubt about who was speaking.
“I listened to the VN The person speaking there is Abednego Mkhatshwa, the provincial secretary of MKP in Mpumalanga,” she said.
“I have escalated the matter to the presidency and lodged a complaint with
the SG. I have also opened a case with the police.”
By Wednesday, she confirmed that the case – number 160/10/2025 – had been
registered at Bronkhorstspruit police station.
After the voice note went public, the Nkangala regional interim detachment issued a statement, calling for Mkhatshwa’s immediate resignation.
“This is not just hate speech; it’s a declaration of intent to kill,” the region warned, urging MKP members to reject “hate speech and death threats targeted at Adv Mkhwebane.”
MKP secretary-general Dr Bongani Mncwango released a statement condemning the recording but did not pronounce on any disciplinary action against Mkhatshwa.
Gauteng provincial police spokesperson Col Mavela Masondo confirmed that the case is being investigated.
“Police can confirm that a case of intimidation has been opened at Bronkhorstspruit police
station and an investigation is underway.
“Once the investigation is complete, the docket will be taken to court for a decision,” he told Sunday World.
