Floyd Shivambu's Afrika Mayibuye will contest next year's elections
Former uMkhonto weSiswe (MK) party secretary-general Floyd Shivambu has told supporters his Afrika Mayibuye Movement will contest elections from next year, hoping to take votes from his old party.
Speaking at the Johannesburg City Hall in Gauteng on Sunday, Shivambu said the movement had already started the process of applying to contest the local government elections next year, and all other polls from there on out.
While it is still in its infancy, Shivambu said community consultations would be finished by September, and Afrika Mayibuye will then be registered. A youth, women’s, student, and professional league would follow, with Maanda Ashu Workers Union of South Africa (Mawusa) reportedly already on board. The union represents Community Work Program (CWP) workers.
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KZN ‘made a mistake’ in voting MK party?
Shivambu has set his sights on Gauteng, saying it would be one of the key focuses of the movement, but said he had requests from interested people in KwaZulu-Natal.
In what could be seen as a thinly-veiled dig at his former party and its success in last year’s elections, Shivambu claimed those in the province had “made a mistake” in giving the MK party their votes.
Former president Jacob Zuma’s party received more than 1.6 million vote or 45.93% of all votes in the province during last year’s elections.
“The people of KwaZulu-Natal have been saying to us, ‘Please come to KwaZulu-Natal’. We almost made a mistake last year. We want to correct that mistake. So please come and listen to us so that we can make contribution as to what is the nature and character of the movement’.
“Comrade, so today we are going to listen attentively”
Why he bad-mouthed other parties
He defended his previous comments about other political parties, saying voters needed to know who they were voting for.
“We are not obsessed with any other organisation. We did, in a few instances, conscientise and make aware to the people of South Africa the pitfalls and weaknesses of the existing political formations, because it would have been treasonous, particularly for those of us who have intimate knowledge of these organisations, not to expose them.
“It is a task of a revolutionary to expose the weaknesses, pitfalls, and the lies that are told by other formations so that we educate, agitate, and conscientise our people to realise that they’ve been misled many times, for many years.”
Shivambu’s parting shot to the MK party
Shivambu’s membership in the MK party was terminated last month and confirmed on Friday. In response, he said the decision would allow him time to work on a movement unlike those he had left behind.
“This process is taking a clear direction toward founding a revolutionary political movement grounded in sound principles, not a cult and not run by a family.
“It will be a movement dedicated to genuine transformation, inclusivity and the empowerment of all South Africans.”
WATCH: MK party announce the termination of Shivambu’s membership
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