The conduct of members of the Umkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) in the provincial legislature is being closely monitored to identify those who have allegedly been deployed by the African National Congress to infiltrate the party.
The warning comes as 18 of the party’s members of parliament were fired this week.
Provincial spokesperson Vincent Mdunge said their focus was now on KwaZulu-Natal and their intelligence has already identified some “wolves who are wearing sheep skin”.
“There are people (MPLs) who will be dealt with very soon. You can read between the lines that these are the people who are deployed by the ANC to sabotage the operations of MK,” said Mdunge.
He said the party could not afford to keep people who were hellbent on sabotaging the MKP “almost every day”.
Although ANC provincial spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said the ANC was not involved in the MKP internal squabble, he confirmed that some of the MKP MPLs were in contact with the ANC and were complaining about abuse.
“Yes, it is true that of the 37 KZN MKP MPLs, at least 29 have reported serious abuse they suffer in the MKP and that they feel they left the ANC only to join a personal vehicle to enrich the Zuma family. They have confided in us.
“Their plea is that for every major decision that needs to be voted, we must make it secret because they are tired of fighting the personal battles of Jacob Zuma,” said Mndebele.
Mndebele said it was untrue that the ANC had deployed people to join the MKP, but there were former ANC members who after joining the MKP realised that their new political home lacked the internal democracy they used to enjoy in the ANC.
“It is for these reasons that they are now opening up and resisting serious disregard of internal democracy and natural justice which is the order of the day.
“Our position is that it’s not our problem. They must not involve the ANC,” said Mndebele.
In June, a group of MKP supporters led by former provincial director-general Nhlanhla Ngidi were locked out of the provincial legislature building in Pietermaritzburg as their 37 comrades were being sworn in as MPLs.
Ngidi’s group complained that those who were sworn in were picked from a wrong list that was submitted to Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
Mdunge said that matter emanated from two contradicting lists that were submitted to the parliament.
He said even after the matter had been resolved, certain people continued to protest.
“Some people came from the ANC to infiltrate as MK members in good standing,” said Mdunge.
When approached, Ngidi, who was positioned as the premier candidate ahead of the elections, declined to comment saying he currently held no status in the MKP.
Mdunge’s revelation came shortly after former president Jacob Zuma-led party had fired 18 MPs who were sworn in on June 25.
MPK national spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the wrong people were sworn in after the party’s candidate list submitted to the IEC was sabotaged.
“I am talking about people who were putting in friends, community members and family members onto our list.
“We communicated with them (fired MPs) that they have to be replaced and they decided to still go ahead and be sworn in,” said Ndhlela.
He said the replacements were people taken from the correct list.
In a statement released on Thursday, parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo could only confirm 15 MPs who have been removed saying they were removed because “according to the Constitution, a person loses membership of the National Assembly if they cease to be a member of the party that nominated them to the Assembly.”
Mdunge said those former MPs have also been fired from the party. He said 13 of the 18 MPs fell out of MKP good books after party caucus leader former judge John Hlophe revealed that they boycotted the sitting of the parliament in which there was going to be a vote on a “certain subject matter”.
Mdunge said he was not at liberty to reveal the name of KwaZulu-Natal MPLs who have been identified as working for the ANC.
He said they have told their MPLs that no one was guaranteed the positions.
“If someone causes trouble he/she will be removed as there are lots of people who have skills, understanding of the game of politics and understand parliamentary matters,” Mdunge said.
“MKP has an entitlement to call and discipline us if we are no longer doing the right thing,” he said.
He said those who were removed as MPs were also stripped of their membership “and they are no longer members”.
Mothapo said in the statement that MKP members who were on the party's reserve list declined to fill any vacancies.
The party won 58 seats in the national parliament, but according to one of the MPs, 47 of its seats were occupied.
“There were people that were told not to take up their seats when the swearing-in took place.
“Some did not pitch up, which is why you have those vacancies, but others defied the instruction and came, and those are the ones that are now being removed,” said the MP.
Mdunge said there might have been MKP members who declined to fill vacant positions because of certain commitments, which prevented them from relocating to Cape Town.
Mothapo could not respond when asked if the MKP had since submitted another list of people who were willing to fill the vacant space. He said there was no deadline for MKP to sort out the issue of its MPLs.