MK National Council calls on ANC NEC to discipline Zuma
The council also wants action to be taken against MP and MKMVA leader Kebby Maphatsoe for his support of Zuma's violation of the Constitution.
MKMVA president Kebby Maphatsoe and former president Jacob Zuma. Picture: Neil McCartney
Members of the Umkhonto Wesizwe National Council (MKNC) have called on the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) to discipline former president Jacob Zuma for defying the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) and the Commission of Inquiry Into Allegations of State Capture.
The MKNC said it was concerned about Zuma’s deliberate failure to appear before the commission and for defying the ConCourt.
The MKNC represents high-profile MK cadres from various exile-era military detachments, such as General Siphiwe Nyanda, Ike Moroe, Marion Sparg, Thabang Makwetla, Gregory Nthatisi and others, and is not aligned to any ANC faction.
MKNC acting secretary-general Gregory Nthatisi said the NEC must take a clear stance on Zuma, who not only defied the commission but undermined the ConCourt, which ordered him to appear before the inquiry to answer to allegations made against him by at least 40 witnesses at the commission.
Nthatisi further said the ANC must also act against its MP, Kebby Maphatsoe, for undermining the Constitution which he swore to uphold as a parliamentarian. Maphatsoe is also president of Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA).
Nthatisi said: “We want to make it patently clear that the utterances by Kebby Maphatsoe, encouraging former resident Zuma to defy the law, does not represent the majority of the former members of MK. In our majority as MK members, we fought for the rule of law and cannot now support irresponsible posturing that encourages the defiance of the laws of our country.”
He said Maphatsoe served as an MP at the behest of the ANC and took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the Republic.
“We call upon the ANC NEC to take a firm decision and act against its members who defy the commission including those who expressly support in public such irresponsible acts of the contempt of the terms of the judicial commission. The ANC fought for the rule of law and its members and leaders must therefore be exemplary in the observance of the dictates of the law,” he said.
“We are clear that the renewal of the ANC and banishing corruption can only happen when the members of the ANC respect the law and uphold the rule of law.”
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The MKNC was formed as a splinter group from the MKMVA after as Maphatsoe was accused of recruiting younger people who had no struggle track record into the association, according to the IOL.
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