THE ANC in the eThekwini region, has started a process of identifying members who have joined the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party after it was endorsed by former president Jacob Zuma.
EThekwini, the ANC’s biggest region in the country by membership, has been a traditional stronghold of the party.
Regional secretary Musa Nciki on Tuesday sent a letter to all branches calling for an assessment of the impact of the MK Party. The assessment will be presented to the party’s provincial leaders – chairperson Sboniso Duma and provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo – next month.
“With the emergence of MK party, all ANC BEC’s (Branch Executive Committees) are instructed to convene special BEC meetings to make assessment of MK Party impact in our branches. Reports emanating from those special BEC meetings are to be submitted no later than 3 January 2024.
“The aim of this exercise is not to harm or label anyone. ANC and BEC members and ANC voters are instructed to stop demonising those who might have joined MK party or have shown interest in the party. ANC needs all of us towards the 2024 general elections campaign,” Nciki wrote.
The assessment will look at each ward and call on branches to provide details on “the number of people who have joined MK or are seen mobilising for it in your branch’.
It also asks for details on the mobiliser/recruiter, ANC structures mobilising for the new party, the conduct of MKLWV (the uMkhonto we Sizwe Liberation War Veterans), conduct of the Alliance partner (Sanco) and to name influential people who have joined or are mobilising for MK.
The MK Party has already been registered with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
Zuma on December 16, announced that he would not vote for the governing party under President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership come the 2024 national and provincial elections. Instead, he said he would cast his vote for the new MK Party.
Nciki yesterday said the assessment was being done to “correct misinformation and propaganda” after claims on social media that the party had registered more than a million people after Zuma’s announcement.
“The intention is not to intimidate but to provide our members and voters with the correct information.”
Zuma, speaking at a MK Party event in Verulam on Tuesday, vowed that all its members would remain disciplined in the face of corruption.
He warned politicians who “think they know politics” and were insulting the MK Party to “zip it” before he revealed uncomfortable truths about them.
“I will speak a bit later as we are about to start our election campaign. However, we must exercise discipline and avoid calling out people’s names and insulting them. All we need is for people to convince us on what we need to do for us to be free again.
“Black people have suffered for a long time. We suffered during days of slavery, colonialism, apartheid and are still suffering even now. We were colonised by imperial forces. We must not be afraid to fight for our total liberation. What is more disturbing is that black people are the ones who are blocking us from realising our true freedom.”
He said the time had come to act and remove the ANC from power.
“I will speak and tell the nation that this ANC of Ramaphosa is not the one that I know. Our job is to rescue the ANC. In other words, we must remove it from the mud. We will remove it whether they like it or not. The ANC is not owned by a few people; the ANC belongs to the people of South Africa,” he said.