A tense exchange reportedly erupted during a meeting between uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK Party) national officials and the newly established Strategic Presidential Team (SPT) at the Protea Hotel OR Tambo in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.
The meeting formed part of the party’s strategic planning sessions held in Ekurhuleni over the past week as leaders and delegates discussed preparations for the local government elections scheduled for November.
Molefe, Nomvalo face the heat
Sunday World understands that secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo and treasurer-general Brian Molefe faced a heated confrontation during the meeting, which was attended by party president Jacob Zuma.
According to sources who attended the gathering, tensions first surfaced when Nomvalo was asked to explain why he had written to regional coordinators on July 25, a day after Zuma announced that the secretariat office would be incorporated into the office of the president.
In a letter seen by Sunday World, Nomvalo informed Gauteng regional coordinators that he was correcting a previous invitation issued on July 23.
In the follow-up correspondence, Nomvalo apologised for the error and explained that the second memo was intended to amend the original invitation.
He explained that space constraints at the launch of the party’s national election campaign material meant that only convenors and coordinators from Gauteng regions and subregions would be invited.
“When asked to explain who instructed him to write the letter since his powers of authority were stripped from him, Nomvalo got angry and stood up from his chair, as he accused his comrades of trying to sabotage him,” said a party insider.
“He was very angry and started to say that certain people in the party blame him about everything, as if he is the only person who runs the party. He was asked to cool off and answer the question, but he didn’t,” said an insider.
Another source alleged that matters intensified when Nomvalo and Molefe were instructed to hand over signing powers to the party’s general manager, Zandile Makhathini-Neer.
The pair were also allegedly asked to explain claims that they had mobilised party structures against the SPT.
“This is where things got messy in the room as Sibonelo and Brian stood up and screamed at the deputy secretary, Nomsa [Dlamini], when she asked them to be cooperative. They were rowdy and caused commotion in front of uBaba [Zuma], who was startled by how they were behaving. Tony [Yengeni] had to call Sibonelo and Brian to order as the chaos seemed to be heading towards a physical confrontation directed at Nomsa.
“We even asked ourselves about Brian’s drama because he is a cool person, and it was shocking to see him so angry while he was wearing an arm sling,” said a source.
The source claimed that the incident left senior party leaders stunned.
Nomvalo and Molefe storm out
“They [Nomvalo and Molefe] were so furious that they both left before the end of the meeting, leaving a stunned President Zuma, who said he needed to be advised on how to deal with this kind of immaturity of people who behave like children and pick up fights with women. Zuma even said that had he known that this is how they behave, he would have never appointed them in the first place to be in such high positions within the party.”
The source said the issue regarding a story that Sunday World story published at the weekend in connection with the forensic report ended up not being tabled after Sibonelo and Brian left the meeting abruptly, leaving President Zuma and others in awe.
Sunday World has been informed that staff members responsible for taking minutes were allegedly asked to leave the room before the confrontation unfolded.
Sources further alleged that Zuma later met privately with Nomvalo.
“We could hear Nomvalo pleading with President Zuma, begging him not to fire him. He was crying out loud as we could hear from outside that he was being dealt with by uBaba,” said a source.
Responding to questions from Sunday World, Nomvalo dismissed the allegations, saying:
“Your source is always misleading you.”
MK Party spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu said he would gather information from those involved before providing a formal response.
Yengeni, Molefe and Dlamini had not responded to the questions by the time of publication.
- A tense exchange reportedly erupted during a meeting between uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK Party) national officials and the newly established Strategic Presidential Team (SPT) at the Protea Hotel OR Tambo in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.
- The meeting formed part of the party’s strategic planning sessions held in Ekurhuleni over the past week as leaders and delegates discussed preparations for the local government elections scheduled for November.
- Molefe, Nomvalo face the heat Sunday World understands that secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo and treasurer-general Brian Molefe faced a heated confrontation during the meeting, which was attended by party president Jacob Zuma.
- According to sources who attended the gathering, tensions first surfaced when Nomvalo was asked to explain why he had written to regional coordinators on July 25, a day after Zuma announced that the secretariat office would be incorporated into the office of the president.
- In a letter seen by Sunday World, Nomvalo informed Gauteng regional coordinators that he was correcting a previous invitation issued on July 23.
