MK factions gun for one another

The Umkhonto weSizwe’s Veteran’s National Council steering committee has accused the Kebby Maphatsoe-led MK Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) of promoting factionalism within the ANC and undermining the organisation’s decisions.

The MK steering committee, which is made up of prominent former cadres of the ANC’s former military wing, MK, has condemned the unilateral decision of the MKMVA to hold a separate conference without the MK Council. The MKMVA decision is in defiance of the ANC national executive committee effort to bring the two groups together and hold an all-inclusive conference.

The MK Council steering committee distanced itself from the MKMVA decision, which it described as “treacherous and divisive”.

Steering committee chairperson General Siphiwe Nyanda said the MKMVA’s move was aimed at perpetuating disunity and the marginalisation of hundreds of former MK members under the pretext of observing the association’s obscure constitution.

“We condemn this intransigence and [these] self-seeking motives in the strongest terms possible and call on all genuine cadres of Umkhonto weSizwe, particularly those in leadership roles, to dissociate themselves from this betrayal,” Nyanda said.

He added that the true former MK members must expose the “boastful and noisy characters” in the MKMVA who had been rewriting the history of the organisation.

MKMVA, which is led by the pro-Zuma Maphatsoe, was recently accused of enlisting non-guerilla people, including youths as young as 30 that it claimed were MK veterans. The youths, who wore uniforms similar to that of MK, were guarding Luthuli House during the recent anti-Zuma protests.

Steering committee deputy chairperson Thabang Makwetla told The Citizen that, by backtracking on the commitment they made publicly and jointly with the MK Council – to prepare for an inclusive conference – the MKMVA had showed it did not respect the ANC NEC decisions. The party wanted them to unite and hold a conference as one entity.

Makwetla said the fact that the MKMVA leadership said there was nothing wrong with allegations about state capture involving the Gupta family was a matter of concern.

“They say there is nothing wrong with what the Guptas are doing and [that] they [Guptas] contribute to the economic objectives of the country. That logic of theirs is actually against the aims of the National Democratic Revolution,” Makwetla said.

The steering committee supported the call for a national consultative conference of the ANC to correct the problems in the party prior to the ANC elective national conference schedule for December.

“Rules must be made to ensure that the December conference has integrity so that we are better than we are, otherwise the ANC is going down the slippery slope. We don’t want to see a divided ANC,” Nyanda said.

The steering committee welcomed the NEC’s decision to appoint a team to bring the two factions together. – ericn@citizen.co.za