ANC members reject claims they have joined MK
ANC Eastern Cape big shots have poured cold water on rumours that they have joined former president Jacob Zuma’s newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe party.
Former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Nceba Faku, who was said to be preparing to join the party, went as far as swearing when asked if he was preparing to join.
He, together with chief Mwelo Nonkoyana, who is a former ANC MP and also former vice-president of the SA Football Association, were named in social media posts.
Nonkonyana is also the chair of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA in the Eastern Cape and a former chair of the House of Traditional Leaders in the province.
A voice recording doing the rounds on social media, recorded in isiXhosa, says Nonkonyana was already “gone” and Faku was on his way.
Nonkonyana said: “Not as yet, there is nothing like that.
“I heard about it [on Wednesday].
“I have not joined them. “I just received a notification that they would like to meet me but as yet, I have not met them,” he said.
Asked if he was looking to join another organisation, Nonkonyana said “not as yet”.
“But as traditional leaders, we are open to meet with anyone who wants to meet and hear what they want to say.
“Naturally, any stance that I would take, I would have to consult even my own comrades as well as Contralesa, before I take any decision. “[There] is no date as yet. “I saw a message from them asking for a date, so I will see where and when we meet,” he said.
Faku initially laughed off questions about his suggested impending move to the MK party, saying he was a member of the disbanded ANC military wing, which is now called the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans league after the ANC officially disbanded it in the lead-up to the democratic elections in 1994.
The MKMVA was also disbanded by the ANC in 2021, amid internal fighting in the ANC in the lead-up to its 2022 conference which re-elected president Cyril Ramaphosa as party president.
“I don’t even know [of] the voice note,” Faku said.
“I have not been approached. I mean really?
“Tell the person from that voice note [where to get off].
“I don’t know a single person from the MK party in my immediate circles.
“It’s the first time I am hearing about what you are saying ... if they are recruiting, they must not recruit people like this, they must do it in a clean way, because I regard that as tarnishing my name,” Faku said.
The MK party has gained prominence after Zuma announced in December that he was not going to vote for the ANC and instead would vote for MK.
The party has since got support from several former ANC members.
It has named Pumlani “Ntsimbi” Kubukeli as its provincial convener in the Eastern Cape and it has been planning to hold its provincial rally at Sabalele village in Cofimvaba, the birthplace of ANC stalwart Chris Hani.