The strife within the burgeoning uMkhonto weSiwe Party (MKP) comes as little surprise, according to political analyst Prince Mashele, who attributed the turmoil to a culture of blind allegiance among party members.
Mashele contends that the genesis of the MKP is shrouded in instability, stemming from its inception by former president Jacob Zuma.
He highlighted that Zuma’s motives were to undermine the ANC rather than champion a noble cause.
Mashele asserted that many party members are unaware of the true purpose of the party and are obediently following Zuma.
“Zuma founded the MK Party to fight battles with the ANC,” Mashele said.
“Everyone else who is in the party may be there without being fully aware of what the true nature of the party is, which is why they behave out of line with Zuma’s main agenda, and those people are therefore bound to be expelled.”
There has been significant strife within the party recently, with several members ousted from their positions.
Founder of MKP expelled
Even Jabulani Khumalo, the party’s founder, who initially supported Zuma, found himself at odds with the former president and was subsequently expelled.
He approached the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and asked it to remove Zuma from the ballot in the upcoming elections. He also accused him of misconduct.
However, the IEC declined to entertain Khumalo’s request, saying Zuma is the leader of the MKP.
Mashele criticised Zuma for failing to communicate his agenda clearly to party members, resulting in factionalism and expulsions.
“I am not surprised that there are all these destructions because many people do not know what this whole party is about; it’s about Zuma fighting the ANC,” Mashele said.
Zuma’s waning influence
His prognosis for the MKP is bleak, predicting its imminent demise, and attributing its fate to Zuma’s waning influence and the lack of a cohesive vision beyond his personal ambitions.
“Zuma is not a rising star; he is actually a fading star,” Mashele stated, highlighting the former president’s declining political clout.
“The man is very old. He will soon go senile if he is not already senile, and he will die; that’s nature. The party will die with him. It will not last long.”
Despite the internal strife, the MKP will engage in a crucial legal battle on Friday when the Constitutional Court decides whether to uphold the IEC’s appeal.
The appeal challenges a high court ruling regarding Zuma’s eligibility to participate in the May 29 general elections, given his criminal conviction.
Justices are people of the law
Mashele, however, believes that the court’s decision will be unaffected by the MKP’s internal conflicts.
“The infighting will not have an impact on the judgement,” he stated, asserting the court’s independence from political influence.
“The justices are people of the law, and they will be extremely sensitive to the importance of not getting involved in politics.
“The concerned court has no history of getting involved in politics; the infighting will not have an impact on the judgment.
“Whatever judgment they will deliver, I think will purely be based on the law.”
Reflecting on Zuma’s legacy, Mashele painted a sombre picture of his impact on South African politics.
He charged Zuma with dismantling the government structure put in place by former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela, leaving a fractured political landscape in its wake.
Killing the ANC
Furthermore, he predicted that the MKP would hasten the demise of the ANC, once a dominant force in South African politics, paving the way for a new era.
Explained Mashele: “When history is finally written, the impact of Zuma on South Africa’s politics will be twofold.
“Firstly, he is the man who destroyed the South African state. If you look at what Mandela and Mbeki did, they put together what seemed like a proper state, but when Zuma took over and when he left, all of that was gone.
“He will also go down in history as someone who hit the final nail in the coffin of the ANC.
“His MK Party is going to destroy the ANC because we know those who follow him and those who are going to vote for him are those who would have voted for the ANC.
“He is actually killing the ANC. Zuma’s impact and his MK Party will be to bury the ANC and to give birth to a new politics.”
