MKP member in KwaZulu-Natal Visvin Reddy said the party list circulating was fake and designed to cause divisions within the party. l SUPPLIED
Durban — UMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has accused its enemies of distributing a fake parliamentary and provincial list in order to cause divisions within its ranks.
A senior MKP member in KwaZulu-Natal, Visvin Reddy, said the list was fake. He accused rivals of “cooking” the list with many people from Zuma clans, to create an impression that former president Jacob Zuma was sending his own family members to Parliament and the legislatures.
An outspoken Reddy said those who cooked the list also wanted to cause divisions within the party, as it left out many people who had been with Zuma for a long time.
“People are applying all the dirty tricks to divide our party at this critical time. They are scared of the MKP so they decided to create a fake list,” he said.
Reddy, who jetted to Cape Town last night to join the party leadership to finalise the list for submission on Friday (today), said for the sake of transparency, the party would release the genuine list after submitting it to the Electoral Commission of South Africa Friday (today).
The “fake” list, which has also been seen by the Daily News, has several names with Zuma surnames, including the former president’s daughter, Duduzile.
Topping the “fake” national list was former president Zuma himself followed by Zoh Zuma and former ANC Msunduzi Local Municipality deputy mayor Thobani Zuma. Dumisani Khumalo who was initially acting president of the MKP was number seven on the list. Khumalo who registered the party was now referred to as the national commander of the party. Also on the list was Reddy himself.
Reddy, who is also the African Democratic Change leader and an eThekwini councillor, was the first minority party leader who announced that his party would not be contesting the elections but instead he would campaign for MKP.
He is known to be close to Zuma and has been at Nkandla to meet Zuma since the formation of MKP.
Reddy also told the paper that the genuine list would be submitted on Friday (today). It would be temporary and those that would make it to parliament would have to vacate their seats after the party has elected new leadership at its conference.
Meanwhile, former director-general of the office of the KZN Premier, Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize, has distanced herself from the party after her name appeared on the list. In a statement on Thursday, Mkhize said she had no knowledge of how her name was included since she was not a politician.
“I wish to distance myself from the said list as I am not a politician. I was neither consulted about the list nor have an affiliation with the MK Party.
“I remain a loyal servant of the government as the Director-General of KwaZulu Natal and have no intention of joining active politics,” read the statement.
The deadline for parties to submit their lists to the electoral body is Friday (today) at 5pm.
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Daily News