WeeklySA_AdminWHITHER: Court action threatens to undo initiative to bring peace ahead of ANC’s elective conference in December…
By Isaac Moledi
Are the current rumblings of discontent racking the new structure established to replace the disbanded military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), threatening to torpedo the new-found unity?
Since its formation at the all-Inclusive MK Unity conference held in East London in April this year, the new MK structure – rebranded as MK Liberation War Veteran (MKLWV) – has witnessed damaging squabbles and frictions within its ranks. This has led to the ANC’s disbanded MK Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) – which pulled out of the MK unity conference – resorting to court action to nullify the formation of the MKLWV and all its conference resolutions.
Central to MKMVA’s grievances is the composition of the national preparatory committee (PrepCom), the conference organiser which the MKMVA described as “disproportionate”. According to MKMVA, 90 percent of the Prepcom members were drawn from the MKVA’s rival grouping, the MK National Council (MKNC), and 10 percent from the MKMVA.
“A unity conference preparatory committee or the ANC peace and stability committee should have identified all the breakaway factions of the ANC ex-combatants and convene them equally under one roof and chart an MK unity roadmap,” a statement from the MKMVA said yesterday in its “Delegate Report”.
Other thorny issues raised by the MKMVA include alleged suppression of dissenting voices as well as accreditation issues, which MKMVA said it affected certain delegates. In addition, the organisation complained against “preferential” treatment given to some conference delegates when it came to transport and accommodation arrangements. The favoured delegates were booked on flights to East London with privileges to hire cars. On the other hand, the “less favoured” delegates were made to travel in cold and faulty buses which experienced mechanical problems on the way to the conference, while the “favoured” ones were given luxury coaches.
“Some of the transport from different provinces made it difficult to arrive in the Eastern Cape on time. Accommodation was in such a way that a dominant faction was housed in a central and very comfortable venues where communication was convenient for them,” MKMVA statement said.
There were also complaints against the Department of Military Veterans (DMV), which was accused of replacing delegates even though the delegates were elected by their regions or provinces. The programme and the outcome of the conference were pre-determined, MKMVA said.
Although it appeared that some delegates had access to conference documents days or even months prior to the conference, other delegates received the documents during the conference, denying them an opportunity to thoroughly interrogate issues covered at the conference.
The statement described the conference documents as having divisive contents, adding the language used was unpleasant. “Such tone has found expression in the South African National Defence Force and denied comrades the deserved promotions… This tone has also allowed some detachments in MK to decide who has the right to access the veteran pension and other benefits around the country,” argued the statement.
MKMVA described the conference as a “make or break”, as it became a “slaughterhouse and a shooting range to totally destroy other MK ex-combatants.,”
The statement blamed the ANC’s head of peace and security, David Mahlobo, and “his NEC comrades”, including Thabang Makwetla, the current Defence and Military Veterans deputy minister, for “the mess”.
According to the MKMVA, it was not a “mistake” that the new structure was called MKLWV. “This name has been in use since 2020 by some Eastern Cape ex-MK members. While MK structures were disbanded throughout the country, this Eastern Cape structure was invited to veterans’ related activities and events all over the province and country.”
The Eastern Cape structure, the statement says, had “private and secret visits” from Makwetla and the DMV Director-General. The structure was also used by people close to the MKNC, the statement adds.
Pinpointing Makwetla as former secretary general of the MKNC, the MKMVA said the Deputy Minister temporarily vacated the position following his appointment to his current position in a government portfolio. The MKVA accused Makwetla of using government levers to further divide the veterans.
But Weekly SA Mirror could not independently verify some of the MKVA’s allegations against Makwetla and his DG.
According to the MKMVA, the MKNC was not established for the issues that relate to veterans, “but a tool to be used in the ANC National Conference in 2017”.
The MKMVA said it was also not innocent in the mess engulfing the veterans. “MKMVA also contributed in conditions that frustrated many comrades. MKMVA leadership at all levels became elites who were not in touch with the challenges faced by their members, instead focused on ANC leadership politics, tenders and internal leadership squabbles,” says the statement, adding the introduction of MKNC proved not to address this but to further join in tender sprees and lobbying for recognition.
Some aggrieved MK insiders believe that the current rumblings within the disbanded former ANC armed wing have implications pointing to the upcoming ANC elective conference. They believe that this newly elected MK structure – which they say consists of mainly MK generals and commissars aligned to President Cyril Ramaphosa – aims to strengthen the current ANC boss’s hand and chances leading to the December conference.
Some believe that the dominant MKNC faction in the new structure was another way to “purge” certain elements within MKMVA, which they say are still linked to former president Jacob Zuma. “It should be remembered that Zuma was ushered in to power in 2007 by some of the elements within MKMVA that is why Ramaphosa also needs this support,” one aggrieved MK insider said.
Senior office-bearer in the Liberation Struggle War Veterans of SA (LSWV-SA), a body comprising members of MKMVA, PAC’s APLA and AZAPO’s Azanla, told Weekly SA Mirror during the events leading to the unity conference that one of the aims of the MK East London conference was to “kill two birds with one stone”.
Mzukisi Ronyuza, member of LSWV national task team, said his organisation and the MKMVA were expected to become casualties after the conference and this has happened, he said. He said his organisation was watching the development with keen interest, but still believed that court action was the only way if government did not review its position and call the LSWV to the negotiating table.
“The document relating to our demands has been signed and it awaits both parties to reconvene the negotiations,” Ronyuza says.
The case against the 53 LSWV members who were accused of 26 counts of kidnapping, among other charges, has since been withdrawn.
In a turn of events after its failure to resolve their grievances with Luthuli House, the grouping turned to the courts this week, demanding the nullification of the conference and its resolutions.
Acting on their behalf, Phosa Loots Inc Attorneys wrote a letter of demand addressed to the ANC treasurer Paul Mashatile, who stands for the ANC secretary-general, and also to the DMV, demanding an undertaking from both offices to declare the conference null and void, and state that the conference with all the decisions taken be nullified.
“Should your office fail to furnish our client with the aforementioned undertaking by close of business on Monday the 23rd of May 2022, our instructions are to institute an urgent application against the ANC as well as The Department of Military Veterans to obtain an order to nullify the conference and all decisions taken in it and seek punitive costs order against you,” said Phosa Loots inc. Attorneys letter.
Such tone has found expression in the
South African National Defence Force and
denied comrades the deserved promotions… This tone has also allowed some detachments in MK to decide who has the right to access the veteran pension and other benefits around the country.
The MKMVA said it was also not innocent in the mess engulfing the veterans. “MKMVA also contributed
in conditions that frustrated many
comrades. MKMVA leadership at all levels became elites who were not in touch with the challenges faced by their members, instead focused on ANC leadership politics, tenders and internal leadership squabbles.
Published on the 51th Edition. Get E-Copy
