Jacob Zuma has used the first anniversary rally of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party
to position it as a champion of black unity and call on its supporters to return him to office so he can complete the “unfinished business” interrupted by his recall by the ANC.
The party marked a year of existence on Sunday with a spirited but delayed rally at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium, which it failed to fill, despite predictions by its leadership earlier in the week that it would be packed to capacity.
The delays, searing heat in the open stands and a withdrawal of planned trains from the townships around Durban all appear to have contributed to Zuma addressing a far from full stadium.
The former president called on his supporters to prepare for the 2026 local government vote — which he said the party would win — and for the next national and provincial elections, which he noted were only just over four years away.
“There are four years left before we vote again and take back what is ours and to fix our country,” Zuma said. “Are you with me? Stop acting like it will take 10 years. We need to work now, so we can be back in power.”
He called for the unity of black parties in 2026 and in 2029, saying that “black people must come together in local government and fix what happened in the past” in the coming election.
Zuma thanked the leadership of the African Transformation Movement and other parties involved in the so-called progressive caucus in parliament for attending the anniversary — an invitation which was declined by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
In a reference to this — and to the rejection of his unity call by EFF president Julius Malema at the party’s national people’s assembly this week — Zuma said this was not the time for black parties to be fighting and insulting each other.
The former head of state called on black parties to “stop fighting each other” in the coming elections and take power, and then return to normal politics.
“We are not playing here. This is the last phase of our fight for our country,” he said.
The MK leader continued with his narrative that the party had been robbed of a two-thirds majority in 29 May general elections — when it took 17% of the national vote and 45% in KwaZulu-Natal — and called for changes to the vote counting system.
The MK party has lodged a second challenge to the May results in the electoral court.
Zuma called for changes to the electoral system, urging his supporters to challenge the status quo and protest in order to ensure that votes are counted publicly, locally and “not by strangers”.
“They robbed us of our votes. In future, we must also be there as the community when they are counting our votes so we know exactly what has happened. There must be public counting. We need that,” he said.
“We must all agree that in the next election, MK must have a big drum for votes, and the other parties, and we must be there when they count the votes. We don’t care what the regulations say.”
The MK leader also used the occasion to remind his followers why he had started the party, telling them that there were things that “we must not forget about”, including colonialism, apartheid and land dispossession, which continued today through the government of national unity.
“We are here today to say that there must be unity of black people. We are the only people who are struggling. Nobody else will take us out of our struggles. It is only us,” he said.
“Let us never forget what white people did to us.”
Zuma said the ANC’s refusal to allow him to make the changes he wanted to and its move to recall him in 2018 were among the reasons that prompted him to form the new party.
After 30 years in power, the ANC had “decided to join white people” and “slowly shifted away from me, and until we became enemies”, he charged.
With one year left in office, “comrades were abusing me” because “they could see I was changing most of the things”, Zuma said, adding that he was “pushed out and forced to leave, so I left”.
The former ANC president said the governing party had been “used as a weapon to defeat us”.
He added that the Zondo state capture commission which implicated him in corruption had been used “to say people who didn’t steal were called thieves, yet they were all stealing”.
Zuma said nothing had happened about President Cyril Ramaphosa’s scandals, including “money under his couches,” a reference to the Phala Phala affair.
“The president has the worst cases but he has never appeared in court. Even if you have done nothing, you will appear in court. I’m coming from prison,” Zuma said, referring to his 2021 incarceration for contempt of court.
“They said, arrest him, arrest him, but the one who has got money under the couches, he is the president. He is a good person.”
Also addressing supporters on Sunday, Zuma’s deputy John Hlophe called on party members to stop “jostling for positions” and settling up parallel structures.
The MK party has found itself in court over the removal of MPs to accommodate members brought in after the elections — including Hlophe himself — and recently lost cases in both the Mpumalanga legislature and the national assembly.
It is also facing a court battle over which of two rival MK candidates will represent the party in a by-election in Pietermartizburg next week.
“There is no movement that is immune from internal challenges. MK is no exception to this. As a young and dynamic organisation, we have faced growing pains that accompany rapid expansion and the pursuit of real change,” Hlophe said.
Both were an “unfortunate reality” in politics, but while “ambition is natural it must never come at the expense of our shared vision”, he added.
He said factionalism “presents a serious threat” to the party and would weaken it and distract it from its mission.
“We must address these issues decisively with a firm hand and an unwavering focus on the greater good,” Hlophe said.
