Bheki Mtolo, the secretary of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, has warned voters to be vigilant of those who had looted the state and were now pretending to be messiahs.
“If voters support thieves, they will regroup under a different political party. They will go on to form government as thieves,” said Mtolo.
He was addressing community members under Ward 14 in Ray Nkonyeni local municipality, in the south coast.
Mtolo appeared to be making a subtle dig at the Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe Party, which has only been in existence for seven months.
The controversial politician, who was also the mayor of Kokstad local municipality, together with other members of the ANC’s provincial executive committee, are out on a campaign trail to woo support ahead of crucial by-elections.
The crucial elections are scheduled for various areas of the province this week.
With less than 17 months before municipal polls, political parties are using the by-elections as a barometer to gauge their electoral support.
Mtolo, though he did not mention the MK Party by name, seemed to be throwing jabs at its newly recruited MPs.
State capture commission report
Some of the party’s officials had been implicated in the state capture commission report as key drivers in the looting frenzy.
The state capture, where billions of rands were syphoned off from state institutions, is believed to have happened under the presidency of Zuma.
Zuma was at the time the president of the ANC.
Mtolo said: “We know that if individuals decide to embezzle public funds, they indirectly deprive communities of critical services.
“When we grew up, trains were functioning optimally. They were a reliable mode of transport for our parents.”
He claimed that at some point there were thieves who looted the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa to the ground, disrupting the normal functioning of passenger trains.
“We got rid of them. But they are coming back through another political party. There are also people who collapsed Eskom. They are now in parliament through the backdoor.
“They know that people forget easily,” Mtolo said, prompting murmurings from the community members.
The MK Party had been classified as the ANC’s political foe number one, with the party occupying the opposition status in the National Assembly.
Government of national unity
In the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, it is the biggest party, but it was kept out of power due to a pact between the DA, IFP, ANC and the NFP.
Following the May general elections, the four parties agreed to collaborate to govern together through the signing of a government of provincial unity.
The parties, in turn, shared MEC portfolios among themselves, ensuring that the ANC splinter grouping does not govern the second-biggest economy in the country after Gauteng.
The MK Party has since bolstered itself by recruiting, among others, former EFF second-in-command Floyd Shivambu to serve as the brains behind its election machinery, strategy, and tactics.
Others who have joined the party recently include former City of Johannesburg speaker Colleen Makhubele and former Midvaal mayor Bongani Baloyi, who was a member of the DA before forming his own party.
