Sources inside the ANC NEC have revealed that there is a “uMkhonto Wesizwe party battalion” operating inside the ANC.

uMkhonto Wesizwe Party, now the country’s official opposition party has party members planted inside the ANC to facilitate the party’s transition into MKP. According to sources, some top brass in the party take a mandate from former President Jacob Zuma and are “occupied with seeing him take over the ANC again”.

Sources reveal that Zuma still wants to be a member of the ANC because he is convinced that President Ramaphosa is an agent sent to destroy the party and the ousting of Ramaphosa will see Zuma and others create a strong black party composed of the ANC, MKP, ATM, the PAC and others.

“This is just a transition, the ANC as we know it is dead but we will not leave the ANC to join MKP at this point, we will oust Cyril so we can reclaim our movement from white hands” the source said.

Fikile Mbalula, secretary-general of the ANC, has confirmed that he will proceed with charging members, including Tony Yengeni, Obed Bapela, and others, for misconduct, regardless of external support. Yengeni represented Zuma before the ANC's disciplinary committee after Zuma publicly endorsed MKP ahead of the May 29 elections. Mbalula, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said all members of the ANC, irrespective of their rank, position, or station in life, who conduct themselves in an undisciplined manner will be subject to the formal disciplinary processes of the organisation, where they will be required to explain their conduct, ultimately helping to instil discipline within the movement.

Mbalula added that Yengeni was nothing more than "a political Casanova" and is spewing vagrant political views and views that are embraced by a few malcontents who are opposed to the ANC". Speaking during the ANC leaders' visit to Robben Island, Cape Town, Mbalula emphasised that the ANC's constitution grants him the authority to take action against members exhibiting "wayward behaviour". “I took Ace Magashule and Jacob Zuma to the DC and I will take Tony Yengeni, I told him I will take him to the DC,” Mbalula said. “I don’t need an NEC meeting to charge wayward behaviour of an NEC member.”

Mbalula further reinforced his stance, stating that the disciplinary process will continue “with or without the support of their friends” and that the charges will be heard by the ANC's disciplinary committee. He asserted that the majority of ANC members agreed with the action, underscoring his commitment to follow through with the process. “The membership of the ANC agrees, the majority of it, and nobody will stop me from that.”

Mbalula’s stance however will be the rest factor for many ANC members who are set to dump the party should it fire Yangeni. This may signal bad news for the party ahead of the 2026 local government elections.

Zuma believes the process which got him expelled from the ANC was not fair, as he was targeted by his former comrades. On the ANC’s 113th birthday a defiant Zuma had slapped the ANC with a letter of demand, giving the organisation an ultimatum to reinstate his membership by January 31 or face court action. In the letter to the party, Zuma’s attorney Thabo Kwinana outlined procedural and substantive concerns regarding the processes undertaken by the ANC’s National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) and the National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal (NDCA). The letter says Zuma's expulsion was “not procedural and invalid”, citing irregularities that would likely be upheld by an independent legal review.

Responding to Mbalula’s utterances, spokesperson for the Jacob Zuma Foundation, Mzwanele Manyi, who is also the chief whip of the MK party in Parliament, said Mbalula does not know what he is talking about. “The Foundation does not react to Mbalula. As you can see, he is just an exasperated fellow who does not know what to do. He doesn’t even know that the NEC of the ANC is not the highest decision-making structure of the ANC. There is still the conference. So, he speaks as if the final has been said on President Zuma and yet the same constitution of the ANC knows that the NEC is indeed a structure in between conferences but the conference still remains the highest decision-making body,”

Manyi insisted that Zuma was targeted, arguing that if laws were applied equally, action would also have been taken against SA Communist Party general secretary Solly Mapaila who has bluntly told ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa that the SACP will contest the 2026 local government elections alone, dumping the ANC. “If you are to go to the merits and look at the inconsistencies of this decision, there is nothing in relation to what President Zuma has said to date that Solly Mapaila has not also said. But nothing is happening to Mapaila. President Zuma said the MK party would be registered and will contest elections, then he got all kinds of excitement from the ANC of Ramaphosa. They want to do all kinds of things to him,” said Manyi.

“Mapaila says the same thing a few days ago, he said he would register SACP as a party to contest elections and contest the ANC – and nothing happened to him. The ANC says it is an organisation of integrity, and then you have its own so-called president that has stashed millions (of dollars) in the couches and the ANC turns a blind eye to this.” Manyi said.

According to the sources, about 24 people in the 80 band of NEC members were in communication with Zuma in December 2023 shortly after the party was unveiled. “We knew that it was going to be formed. Many people in ANC T-shirts voted for MK. The holistic strategy was that we would not all leave the party and join MKP. As they continue to purge people, many of us in ANC T-shirts will vote for MKP.

The Star

sifiso.mahlangu@inl.co.za

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