Zuma and MK party contest Ramaphosa's decision to suspend Mchunu
Former President Jacob Zuma and the MK party have responded to President Cyril Ramaphosa's answering affidavit, which claims that the MK party is attempting to score political points against him through its Constitutional Court challenge to his decision to place Police Minister Senzo Mchunu on leave.
Zuma and the MK party filed an urgent application on 18 July seeking to invalidate Mchunu's leave of absence and Wits law Professor Firoz Cachalia's appointment as acting police minister.
Challenge
They is also challenging Ramaphosa's establishment of a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate corruption allegations in the police.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi made explosive allegations during a media briefing this month, accusing Minister Mchunu and Deputy National Commissioner for Crime Detection, Shadrack Sibiya, of political interference in police operations.
ALSO READ: Here's why Zuma's MK party wants Ramaphosa removed in 'urgent' motion of no confidence
Dealing with ministers
In Ramaphosa's answering affidavit on Wednesday, the president argued that the constitution gives him 'a wide berth as to how to deal with ministers'.
'It is clear that I am empowered to place a minister on special leave when there are serious allegations… so that those allegations can be properly investigated,' said Ramaphosa.
'Where I was not empowered to suspend a minister pending the outcome of an investigation … I would be compelled in all cases, regardless of the circumstances, to dismiss the minister simply on the basis of the allegations … even if they may, on investigation, turn out to be unfounded,' Ramaphosa said.
'Constitutional power'
In response to Ramaphosa's answering affidavit, which missed the initial deadlines set by Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, Zuma argues there's no express constitutional power allowing Ramaphosa to impose 'special leave on Mchunu.
Zuma said there are details in Ramaphosa's affidavit that Mchunu will return as minister of police after the commission of inquiry.
'There is nothing said in the president's affidavit which justified placing Minister Mchunu on 'special leave' and thereby cause him to retain his ministerial title, salary and other perks or privileges at the expense of the long-suffering taxpayer.
'There is simply no potential that he will ever return to the portfolio of Minister of Police, irrespective of the outcome of the commission of inquiry. That unlikely eventuality may also be subject to the ongoing criminal investigations against him, as well as the outcomes of the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee. The ends do not justify the means. All we are left with are ex post facto and Illegal rationalisations,' Zuma said.
ALSO READ: 'Ramaphosa will go down in history as one of the most useless presidents' – analyst
Whitfield and Mchunu
Zuma argues that while DA's Andrew Whitfield did not admit guilt, contrary to the president's claim, the allegations against Whitfield were also untested.
'For a police minister or any minister to collude with criminals is objectively more serious than travelling abroad without permission.'
'It is also plainly false to state that Mr Whitfield ever admitted the allegations against him. The president has produced no evidence of this, Zuma argued.
Cachalia
In the affidavit, Zuma said Ramaphosa 'openly dodges' the clear distinction between the power to appoint a 'minister' and the different power to appoint an 'acting minister'.
'The two are plainly not the same. The obfuscatory reference to the credentials of Prof Cachalia is nothing but deflection. For the record, no issue is taken against the Professor's credentials… The issue is whether he was constitutionally qualified to be appointed by the president. The answer is that he was not.'
Mchunu
Zuma's affidavit also takes direct aim at Mchunu's version of events, portraying it as 'evasive and legally flawed.'
'The minister's affidavit is a masterclass in evasion — it skirts the core allegations and offers no constitutional basis for the executive's conduct. The minister's affidavit is riddled with deflection and fails to confront the gravity of the allegations raised by Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi.'
Judicial commission
Zuma's argument about the Judicial Commission of Inquiry is sharply focused on its judicial nature and the risk of bias.
While Zuma does not oppose the idea of a commission itself — and agrees it may be necessary — what he challenges is the appointment of a judge (Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga) to chair it, given that the judiciary is among the institutions implicated by Mkhwanazi.
'It is irrational and unconstitutional to appoint a judge to chair a commission that is mandated to investigate allegations implicating members of the judiciary. This violates the principle that no one should be a judge in their own cause.'
Impartiality
Zuma wraps up his argument by framing the challenge not as defiance, but as a constitutional safeguard — emphasising fairness and legality in the mechanisms of oversight.
'I make this application not to avoid accountability, but to ensure that the process by which accountability is demanded is itself lawful, impartial, and consistent with the constitution.'
Zuma argued that appointing a judge to lead a commission investigating the judiciary violates the constitutional principle of impartiality — specifically, that 'no one should be a judge in their own cause.'
ALSO READ: MK party slams Ramaphosa over missed Mandela Day deadline
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
IOL News
4 hours ago
- IOL News
The Dolphin Unit: A Legacy of Resistance in Apartheid South Africa
(From left) The Dolphin Unit's Iqbal Shaikh, Mohamed Ismail, Aboobaker Ismail and ANC veteran Mac Maharaj at the TRC hearings on May 7, 1998. Image: Supplied For over three decades, the remarkable story of Umkhonto we Sizwe's Special Operations Unit has remained largely untold. Formed under the direct command of ANC president Oliver Tambo and senior ANC and SACP leader Joe Slovo, this elite unit executed some of the most daring and high-profile attacks against the apartheid state in the 1980s. In this groundbreaking book by ANC and SACP activist Yunus Carrim, the history of Special Ops is brought to life through the voices of its surviving participants. This is an account of the Dolphin Unit that conducted some of MK's most successful military operations Neighbours and friends With 35 operations between 1982 and 1988 and a role in the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK's) ordnance division from then until 1993, the Dolphin Unit was one of the longest-surviving and most successful MK units. Initially made up of Iqbal Shaikh and Mohamed Ismail, it became a one-person unit of Shaikh from 1985. Born in 1958, Shaikh was raised in Vrededorp, Johannesburg. He came from 'a typical apolitical trading family. When all the clan gathered at Granny's kitchen table, political conversations were avoided. If a topic had political undertones, the elders would shrug it off, citing how important the family business was and almost always referring to the atrocities that could befall us if the blacks took over. The Durban 1949 race riots inevitably came up, followed by the Uganda story, where Amin expelled the Indians. 'At Grandpa's two busy dress shops, where we kids came daily to meet our parents after school, we knew to greet any white customer as Goeie môre, Baas or Meisie and never to take offence at the Ja, coolie reply.' Shaikh's stepfather had a dairy delivery business. 'When I reached the gate of the houses, the incessant barking of dogs, followed by the little white kids 'Ma, die melkkoelie is hier [Mother, the milk-coolie is here]. 'We often complained to Papa about why we should address these dirty, bare-footed, little white kids with respect, whilst they called us 'coolie'. Papa would urge us to ignore them and remind us how important white customers were.' From fifteen onwards, Shaik got involved in fights, joined a gang, truanted, left school at sixteen, and found an administrative job. Vrededorp had a tradition of Congress activities. Underground ANC activist Ahmed Timol's death in detention impacted Shaikh. And when the 1976 Soweto uprising erupted, Shaikh was upset at the brutality of white policemen. He moved to Durban to live with an aunt and go back to school. At the M L Sultan Technical College, he was propelled into a student leader position. It was around the food and other conditions at the residences. Later, the sectarian and class divisions among and between Muslim, Hindi-speaking and Tamil-speaking Hindu students. His interventions helped to encourage more contact between students across the divides. When the 1980 student boycott fizzled out, Shaikh felt that the Natal Indian Congress and the parents' moderation contributed to this. Disappointed, he quit college. He returned to Johannesburg and linked up with 'Chacha' – Mohamed Ismail. Shaikh's family lived near his family. They used to play 'cowboys and crooks, hide and seek, and more'. Born in 1953, Chacha 'could see the injustice, police brutality, whites beating up black people walking in the street, and nothing happened. Mozambique became independent, and the political climate was changing. It was necessary as a Muslim and self-styled socialist to become politically active against apartheid.' Through Prema Naidoo and others, he became politically active in the Transvaal Indian Congress. Former ANC Member of Parliament Yunus Carrim narrates the untold stories of the ANC's MK Special Operations Unit. Image: Supplied Joining MK's Special Ops Shaikh threw himself into civic and political struggles in Lenasia. There was constant tension between the Black Consciousness (BC) and Congress activists. The militancy of BC activists suited Shaikh's temperament and brand of politics. But he finally opted for the 'Congressites', influenced by the politics in the Naidoo household. He increasingly felt that 'this mass politics is not for me. I want to go to the next level. It was convenient to be in mass politics and not the armed struggle because that was a harder option.' So, he approached Chacha to link him to the ANC. Chacha's brother, Aboobaker Ismail, had joined MK and would at times meet their parents in Swaziland. In September 1981, Chacha took Shaikh with them. In a hotel room, Ismail (MK: Rashid) ran a tap, switched on the television and asked them to sit away from the window. This was their first lesson in underground activity. They were trained then and on subsequent trips on urban guerrilla warfare, including the use of limpet mines and pistols. MK operatives created a hidden compartment in a Peugeot for them to transport weapons in. On their first attempt, as Shaikh and Chacha got to the border, it was 'very tense, we had sweaty palms, but you had to keep your composure. There was silence at the border, each with his thoughts. When we were barely three minutes over the border into South Africa, we erupted spontaneously into emotional yelling and handshakes. Perhaps the best high five in all my life!' They would bury the weapons in dead letter boxes (DLBs), mainly in Lenasia. 'It was backbreaking work. We weren't used to manual work. The gardeners did that. Now we had to dig up hard ground in the dark of the Highveld winter. It's work fraught with difficulties, sometimes more dangerous than hitting the target.' The Dolphin Unit Called the Dolphin Unit, they started with low-level targets in December 1982, and with experience, took on bigger targets. These included police and army offices, railway lines, electricity pylons, government buildings, the Ciskei consulate, big businesses that fired workers, a fuel depot and more*. On 10 October 1983, President PW Botha was to address a Kruger Day gathering in the Warmbaths civic centre. The unit decided to hit the civic centre and a fuel depot about a kilometre away. 'The night before the operation, on their dry run, an aggressive white man blocked a café entrance and shouted at Chacha, 'Koelie, wat doen jy hier [Coolie, what are you doing here]?' 'We passively passed by and bought our snacks for the road home. Walking back. I told Chacha you should have replied, 'Baas, ek doen niks vanaand, maar ek kom weer môre [Boss, I'm not doing anything tonight, but I'll be back tomorrow].' We laughed and returned home.' The fuel depot was damaged at about 02:20, but the limpet at the civic centre was discovered and defused. Shaikh said, 'The regime claimed that highly trained terrorists [laughter] were involved and planned to annihilate the cream of society.' In late 1986, Shaikh and Chacha went to East Germany for training. On landing, the pilot announced their names and asked them to disembark. 'What's this about? I was scared there might be [apartheid] security branch guys among the passengers.' An East German government official came onto the plane and took them away in a Mercedes, followed by a military vehicle. 'It's everything we've seen in the movies. We were very surprised …' They were trained for three months. Shaikh observed 'all the little contradictions we'd heard about in Soviet-style communism. It was demoralising.' He later said that their 'special advantage was our mobility as Indians. We were less visible as MK operatives and less detectable than our African cadres.' In crossing the South African border, 'we would weaponise our ethnicity. We used apartheid racial profiling to our advantage. By neat business attire, briefcase with brochures, bank notes, samples of a commodity, politeness at all times, and half a dozen samoosas ready on hand, nobody suspected. This was no passport to freedom, but it helped.' While helping out in the family takeaway business, it was easy for Shaikh to reconnoitre targets in the city centre. 'I often wore a toppie and kurta to disguise what I was doing. I was almost rubbing shoulders in the passageways with people linked to my targets, who would never think that I could be in MK.' He could plant limpet bombs inside buildings during work hours to go off at night, when there was nobody around. In communicating with Rashid over the phone, they would use coded words in Gujarati. Being part of a gang as a teenager and a streetfighter, as well as his instinct for challenging authority, contributed to Shaikh's success as a guerrilla. His temperament also drew him to the armed struggle. His impatience with mass struggles, the endless speech-making of leaders, the trade-offs and the failure to get more results more quickly all steered him into the armed struggle. His faith in the armed struggle drove him to be results-driven. He certainly had an adventurous, daring spirit. Shaikh's long association with Rashid and Chacha as neighbours and a shared cultural background made for a level of trust. 'Igs [Shaikh] had that X-factor,' says Farouk Farista, who worked with him in ordnance 'To have the ability to do what he did and survive takes a remarkable human being. And he did it on his own, which requires an incredible amount of tenacity. 'He thought through every single thing with incredible detail. He never took blind chances. He knew how to play it, and he was very smart about not exposing himself and not blowing his trumpet and taking credit.' Shaikh doesn't have a sense of entitlement. After 1994, he retreated from politics. He didn't seek a post in the state. I never felt owed. I didn't want anything because I did the bombings. I had no qualifications. I'm just an ordinary Fietas guy who got into the situation. * The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
Daily Maverick
6 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Reports link Cyril Ramaphosa campaign to shadowy figure at the heart of cop scandal
Brown Mogotsi, once a key lobbyist for the President's 2017 ANC leadership bid, is now accused of acting as a go-between for Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and alleged crime boss 'Cat' Matlala. He is the shadowy figure at the heart of explosive allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi – and in the past, he has aligned himself strongly with the politics of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Media reports from around 2017 show that Brown Mogotsi was a fairly high‑profile lobbyist for the ANC presidential campaign of Ramaphosa before the party's elective conference at Nasrec in December 2017. A Sunday Times report from May 2017 names Mogotsi as the 'organiser' of a pro-Ramaphosa lobby group that included regional and provincial ANC leaders. At the time, Mogotsi publicly urged Ramaphosa to leave his Cabinet post if then President Jacob Zuma would not endorse Ramaphosa as his successor. A year later, a Daily Maverick article would refer to Mogotsi as a 'known Ramaphosa campaigner in North West', at the time taking court action against Ramaphosa's perceived political enemies. The Presidency had not responded to Daily Maverick's questions about the nature of Ramaphosa's relationship with Mogotsi, if any, by the time of publication. But the apparent overlap of political circles raises further uncomfortable issues for an administration that came to power on a reformist agenda – and is now being accused of being in unsettling proximity to a complex criminal web. Mogotsi alleged to be go-between for criminal and police minister In Mkhwanazi's provocative 6 July press conference, he accused Mogotsi of acting as an intermediary between Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and alleged criminal Vusimuzi 'Cat' Matlala, who Mkhwanazi claims is at 'the centre of a sophisticated criminal syndicate operating at the highest levels of the state'. The allegations would subsequently see Ramaphosa place Mchunu on suspension pending an investigation. In particular, Mkhwanazi alleged that there are phone records showing communications and financial transactions between Mchunu, Mogotsi and Matlala, with Matlala allegedly providing Mchunu and Mogotsi with financial support in exchange for having investigations into him lifted. Critical to all this is Mchunu's disbanding of the Political Killings Task Team in December 2024. One of Mkhwanazi's claims is that the task team was going after Matlala, and that it was Mogotsi who sent Matlala a message to tell him that the task team would be disbanded. Mkhwanazi has yet to provide any public evidence of his claims. But Mchunu did himself no favours in the court of public opinion by seeming to do a U-turn on the question of whether he knew Mogotsi. In Parliament in March, Mchunu claimed to have no association with Mogotsi. Yet in a statement on 9 July, in response to the Mkhwanazi press conference, Mchunu said that he 'knows and has met Mr Brown Mogotsi', but described him as 'just a comrade and not an associate of the minister'. In papers lodged on Wednesday, 23 July, in response to the MK party's legal challenge to Mchunu's suspension, Mchunu conceded that he had 'interacted with Mr Mogotsi since 2017, in the presence of other comrades'. Mchunu elaborated further: 'He is a comrade, as we are members of the same political party and have engaged on party and service delivery matters on a number of occasions'. Who is Brown Mogotsi? The man from North West who campaigned so ardently for Ramaphosa in 2017 is shrouded in mystery. Company records scrutinised by Daily Maverick show that Mogotsi was previously listed as a director of some eight companies, including one called 'North West Crimebusters'. All are registered as inactive today. Mogotsi described himself to the Sunday Times in 2017 as an 'ordinary ANC member', but City Press recorded earlier this month that he is 'close to the top echelons of the ANC, including several ministers, especially those who served in MK'. City Press also described him as owning an upmarket bar in Mafikeng from where he is known to 'summon HODs and MECs for instructions on tenders'. Exactly where this apparent political muscle stems from is unclear. Perhaps most curious has been Mogotsi's habit of trying to meddle in provincial politics through a vehicle called the Brown Mogotsi Foundation. Through this, he was instrumental in forcing then North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo out of office in 2018, at least partly because of Mahumapelo's support for Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, rather than Ramaphosa, at the ANC's 2017 Nasrec conference. Most recently, Mogotsi claimed to be an undercover police informant who played a role in the arrest of fugitive rapist Thabo Bester. This smacks of fantasy – but Mogotsi does seem to have access to police intel, if you believe Mkhwanazi. The KZN police commissioner said in his press briefing that Mogotsi had messaged him last September with a picture of a register that is only supposed to be accessible to police. Mogotsi also appears to have knowledge of the law from the other side: he reportedly has at least three previous criminal convictions, including one for assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Mkhwanazi allegations are a political firestorm for Ramaphosa To understand why Mkhwanazi's claims amount to such a political headache for Ramaphosa, it's helpful to revisit the political context leading up to the ANC's elective conference at Nasrec in 2017. Senzo Mchunu was one of Ramaphosa's closest allies and was endorsed by Ramaphosa as his preferred candidate, on his 'slate', for secretary general. Mchunu was absolutely critical to Ramaphosa's campaigning because his constituency was in KwaZulu-Natal: the ANC's largest province by membership, and whose delegates to the elective conference were expected to fall in line with former president Jacob Zuma's endorsement and vote for Dlamini Zuma. Throughout the campaign, Mchunu leveraged his regional influence to rally ANC branches and delegates in support of Ramaphosa's message of reform. Notably, local ANC structures that aligned with Mchunu and Ramaphosa faced pushback from the Zuma-aligned KZN leadership; for instance, the ANC's KZN provincial executive committee moved to disband the Lower South Coast regional leadership, which had been campaigning for Ramaphosa, a move widely seen as an attempt to thwart that region's pro-Ramaphosa campaign. This illustrates how Mchunu actively mobilised support for Ramaphosa, triggering resistance from the opposing faction in the province. Mchunu's political role in KZN significantly influenced the dynamics of the 2017 Nasrec conference. By delivering a portion of the KZN delegates to Ramaphosa, Mchunu materially helped narrow the gap between Ramaphosa and Dlamini Zuma. And although it may have been the recently deceased David Mabuza whose Mpumalanga delegates ultimately handed victory to Ramaphosa, Mchunu's contribution cannot be discounted. Mchunu himself would narrowly (and controversially) lose the secretary-general position at that conference to Ace Magashule. But Ramaphosa went on to repay Mchunu for his support with a series of Cabinet posts in which his brand has been low-visibility and also low-controversy. 'While some of Mchunu's leading contemporaries in the ANC have been entangled in one form of scandal or another while amassing fortunes dubiously, the former teacher has largely stayed clear of adverse publicity,' veteran KwaZulu-Natal journalist Cyril Madlala wrote of him in Daily Maverick. That all changed for Mchunu on 6 July with Mkhwanazi's press conference. How much truth is there in the Mkhwanazi allegations? Ramaphosa has acted swiftly on the Mkhwanazi claims: suspending Mchunu and establishing a commission of inquiry to be helmed by Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. The President has also suddenly taken action against South Gauteng director of public prosecutions Andrew Chauke – almost two years after National Prosecuting Authority boss Shamila Batohi wrote to Ramaphosa to request his suspension, citing serious concerns about Chauke'sconduct in office – multiple questionable decisions, delays and failures to prosecute high-profile cases involving State Capture and corruption. When Daily Maverick asked the Presidency this week if Ramaphosa's sudden action on Chauke was prompted by the Mkhwanazi press conference, spokesperson Vincent Magwenya demurred, saying: 'The Chauke matter predates Mkhwanazi's allegations.' Yet it is notable that among Mkhwanazi's allegations was that the criminal syndicate he claims to have identified includes 'prosecutors in Gauteng province'. Many South Africans have expressed gratitude to Mkhwanazi for having seemingly prompted unusually decisive action from Ramaphosa – despite the fact that Mkhwanazi's claims remain wholly untested. It remains to be seen what evidence Mkhwanazi will turn over to the Madlanga Commission. But one aspect of the claims – that Mchunu ordered the shuttering of the Political Killings Task Team in December 2024 – did attract attention at the time for being a strange decision. One KwaZulu-Natal expert termed it 'bizarre' at the time, on the grounds that political assassinations tend to increase ahead of local government elections, which are scheduled for 2026. If the commission confirms Mkhwanazi's claims, it will mark a dramatic fall from grace for a political grouping heralded in 2017 as ushering in a new climate of clean governance in stark contrast to the dark days of State Capture. DM
Daily Maverick
9 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
MK party rides Mkhwanazi, Budget fallout on march to 2026 polls amid its own power struggle
The uMkhonto Wesizwe party is capitalising on the Budget fallout and its support for Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi to attract voters, all while battling friction inside the party. With the growing public support for KwaZulu-Natal provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party says it is 'more resolute than ever' in its bid to govern KwaZulu-Natal. The party has spent months trying to take control of the province's governance, so far without success. It is now seemingly using its nationwide campaign in support of Mkhwanazi, and is also calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa's resignation and Police Minister Senzo Mchunu's removal, as part of its broader 2026 local government elections campaign. But first, the party wants to revisit its initial plans to take over the province where it got the most votes after the 2024 elections. One of the ways the party sought to take over was through a motion of no confidence that it wanted to bring against the incumbent premier, Thami Ntuli. However, this did not materialise, since MK did not have the buy-in of parties such as the National Freedom Party (NFP). The MK party emerged as the biggest political party in the province after the 29 May elections, winning 37 seats in the 80-seat KZN legislature, followed by the IFP, which won 15 seats, the ANC (14), the DA (11), the EFF (two) and the NFP (one). The party's decision to contest the election results delayed coalition talks and gave the IFP, ANC, DA and NFP an opportunity to form a governing coalition with a combined 41 seats, ultimately leaving the MK party out in the cold. Daily Maverick understands that the talks are now back on, though it remains unclear whether they will succeed. National spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said: 'We are more resolute than ever to govern and to take power. We're more intentional than ever because we can see that these people are fumbling; they don't know what they're doing right now,' Ndhlela said. To govern the province with a majority the party would need just four seats in addition to the 37 it already has. Although the MK leaders would not go into detail about the party's plans to take over the province, IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa rallied behind the government of provincial unity (GPU) this week, saying it was holding tight and had made significant strides. 'We believe our impact can be felt at every level but in particular on crime reduction and economic development.' The NFP's president, Irvin Barnes, could not be reached for comment by the time of publication. The MK's nationwide ' Hands off Mkhwanazi ' marches in support of the police commissioner come three weeks after explosive allegations of criminal syndicates and political meddling in the South African Police Service. The anti-corruption campaign is gaining momentum, especially in KwaZulu‑Natal and Gauteng, and the party seems to be using it to position itself as credible. However, many of its own members are themselves embroiled in serious allegations of corruption. MK in Parliament The party has faced criticism of its performance as the official opposition in Parliament. It is now capitalising on the Budget fallout and Mkhwanazi's backing to attract voters and boost its campaign. An MK member in the KZN legislature said the party was getting a warm welcome from communities in the province for its 'principled stance' on Mkhwanazi. 'People have long seen the ANC of Ramaphosa for what it is and we can see this clearly when we engage communities. They are tired of corruption and empty promises. They are now coming to terms with the fact that MKP is the only party that can bring change,' he said. KwaZulu-Natal is the ANC's largest province by membership, but it was the hardest hit by the rise of the MK party. Its share of the provincial vote dropped from 54.22% in 2019 to 16.99% in 2024. The party was then reduced from a commanding position to only 14 seats in the 80-seat provincial legislature. This forced it to become a weaker partner in the GPU. In the first democratic election in 1994, the IFP won control of KZN with just more than 50% of the provincial vote, against the ANC's 32%. The ANC won the province for the first time in 2004 when Jacob Zuma was the party's deputy president. In 2014, when Zuma was president, it increased its share of the vote to 64% before dropping back to 54% in 2019 after Zuma resigned as president in 2018. Ultimately, political analysts believe that although the MK party's stance may be principled, it also serves as an effective campaign strategy. Although the party seeks to present a united and disciplined front, its internal dynamics suggest otherwise, specifically as several key positions remain vacant. The last position to become vacant is that of the secretary-general, often seen as the engine in any party. It became vacant after Floyd Shivambu was removed from the position over his controversial trip to fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri's church in Malawi. No rush In June, Shivambu said that over the coming months he would consult various communities and groups to gauge whether he should launch his own political party. A senior MK member who spoke on condition of anonymity said: 'The president is not in a rush to take a decision [on a replacement for Shivambu]. He is still applying his mind and in due time we will communicate it. There is really no rush.' Several names have been touted to take over the crucial position. Ndhlela was believed to be in the running for the top job but this was short-lived after he was removed from the party's whippery team in Parliament for disruptive behaviour by the party's deputy president, John Hlophe. This leaves Phumlani Mfeka, one of the party's founding members, as Shivambu's potential successor. Backing a high-profile figure like Mkhwanazi allows the party to send a strong message to both its supporters and its political rivals, one of seriousness, order and future readiness, according to political analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast. But Breakfast believes this is not enough, because voters want action and structure. Just last week, five of the party's provincial legislature members defied their newly appointed chief whip, Bonginkosi Mngadi, by voting against the Revenue Bill. March to the Union Buildings On 18 July, hundreds of MK supporters marched from Church Square in Pretoria's inner city to the Union Buildings, where they submitted a memorandum of demands. Although Mkhwanazi's allegations are yet to be proven, the party's spokesperson in Gauteng, Abel Tau, said MK is urging the President to take decisive action against individuals implicated in interfering with police operations, referencing Mchunu. 'These are serious allegations that were not made by some lunatic on the street but by a career police officer who is well decorated. Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has done his work. We believe he… knows what the implications are.' Meanwhile, MK's Youth League president, Qiniso Cibane, said: 'We are saying Mkhwanazi must be given a second term so he can help clean up our province. 'We are also saying Ramaphosa must be honourable and resign. He has failed the young people of this country.' Cibane used the same march to urge the party supporters to vote for MK at the 2026 polls. 'Next year we are heading to the elections. Let us go and tell everyone we know to vote for the MK. Let us not rush for positions, vote for the party and not a person. The MK party belongs to the people, not one person,' he told the crowd. Ndhlela was confident that the marches would yield positive results. 'The last time we marched against VAT, you saw what happened. People must not underestimate uMkhonto Wesizwe.' DM
