Former Members of the National Assembly and Gauteng Legislature and councillors from various political parties, quietly joined the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party this week in Johannesburg.

At a private gathering attended by various defecting members from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Congress of the People (COPE), and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) from different regions in Gauteng, with some having served previously in senior political party structures crossed the floor, citing various challenges in their former parties.

Former EFF Member of Parliament Patrick Sindane, who was the party’s National Organiser until last year, was among some of the newest faces to embrace the defects of the MK party led by former President Jacob Zuma and his Secretary General Floyd Shivambu.

Veteran anti-apartheid activist Kenny Motsamai, who is a former military commander of the Azanian People's Liberation Army, a military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, and former EFF Member of Parliament, also crossed the floor to Join the official opposition in the country.

Sindane told IOL that a lack of organisational discipline and policy direction led to many individuals dumping their parties for the MK party.

“The formation of the MK party was a relief to so many of us because we knew we wanted to be part of a party that protected the interests of most of our suffering. When Shivambu left the EFF for the MK party, it became a clear wake-up call that there are still alternatives to resolving the challenges facing our country.

“Coming from a background of activism, we felt the MK Party was the future when they announced that the black parties must unite and rescue the masses of our people. We could not pretend that we have too many small political parties working in isolation, and we needed to suspend all interest and unite behind the MK party.”

Former Gauteng MPLs Tina Mabala and Beverly Badenhorst and former EFF Chief Whip in the City of Johannesburg Silumko Mabona also signed up for the MK party.

In addition to the other forty-two members who signed up for the Mk Party, the former PA Provincial Deputy Secretary Keabetswe Ntshole and former COPE Councillor in the Emfuleni local municipality Zakes Phohlela were among those who defected.

Political Analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said that the MK Party, which became the third-biggest political party in the country at last year’s election, would continue to attract prominent figures as it eats into other parties.

“MK Party has been a disrupter in the body of politics; they are the biggest winners of the recent electoral outcomes; they have outmaneuvered the EFF, as the votes would have gone to the EFF had it not been for the MK party

On the internal challenges threatening the stability of the MK Party after reports of disagreements in its leadership structures, he said that a conference could resolve this threat.

IOL

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Former MPs and Councillors from EFF, COPE, and PA join MK Party