Former president Jacob Zuma, leader of the Umkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) said he fired the 18 former MPs from the party because they were either included in the election list fraudulently, lacked skills or were defiant.
This revelation is contained in court papers, which Zuma submitted to the Western Cape High Court responding to an application filed by 10 of the 18 former MPs seeking their reinstatement in the party and parliament.
Zuma said in firing the MPs, he was exercising his powers as the founding president of the party. He said he had since opened a criminal case at Sandton Police Station concerning an allegedly fraudulent MP list.
“Among many people affected by this process of cleansing the [election] lists include individuals either because of non-membership, irregular inclusion, lack of the requisite skills and/or replacement with more suitable members of MK, were the applicants in the present application,” read Zuma’s papers.
MKP national spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela confirmed that Zuma filed the papers, which were dated August 27.
Thamsanqa Khuzwayo, Ntombenhle Mkhize and Nomado Mgwebi, who were among the applicants, told Sunday Tribune that they believed that Zuma had nothing to do with their expulsion. They alleged that certain individuals at the top structure of the party were responsible and were blocking them from communicating with Zuma about this.
But Zuma said otherwise in the court document.
“In the exercise of my power and for various reasons, I determined that the applicants and others must lose their membership of the MKP and consequently their memberships of the National Assembly,” he said.
Zuma said five of the expelled MPs had defied his instructions to boycott the first sitting of the parliament on June 14. He said the boycott was a protest against the alleged vote-rigging.
He said those who defied his instructions were Mkhize, Senzo Dlamini, Thembinkosi Mjadu, Mildred Xaba and Sifiso Zungu.
He also said the former MPs were instructed on June 25 that they should not attend the swearing-in.
“Surprisingly on 25 June the twelve persons defiantly attended the swearing in ceremony and took the prescribed oath.
“To me, this was the last straw,” read the papers.
Zuma said after the party had changed its mind, it instructed its MPs to show up in parliament for the swearing-in four days later, but they did not do so, which he interpreted as their resignation.
The applicants told the court in their papers that the then party chief whip Sihle Ngubane had lied that they had resigned. They demanded that he produce their resignation letters.
However, Zuma said the former MPs’ absence from parliament when they had been instructed to attend was a resignation.
“It was in this sense that the relevant applicants were said to have resigned.
“I informed Mr Ngubane to demand that those persons should either resign from the National Assembly or be summarily expelled from the MKP.
“Mr Ngubane subsequently proceeded, on or about 3 August 2024 onwards, to implement the decision to replace 10 applicants and others who were no longer members of the MKP,” he said.
Among new MPs were Mzwanele Manyi, who was recently announced as the new chief whip and Brian Molefe, Lucky Montana and Siyabonga Gama.
MKP head of presidency Magasela Mzobe told Sunday Tribune that the party would not take pleasure in rendering its former MPs jobless after they had resigned from their previous jobs to move to parliament.
“No one can enjoy any suffering of a black child and president Zuma believes that even those who have been removed from parliament must be integrated into the organisation and get them to do some responsibilities.
“Now that the issue is before the court, he (Zuma) is crippled, he cannot engage with them.
“But we are quite confident that once the legal matters have been exhausted, they will form part of the life of MK,” said Mzobe.