MK Party members in eThekwini vow to sit out November poll over list fraud

Members of the MK Party in eThekwini have told their own leadership they will not take part in the 4 November local government elections unless people they accuse of adding names to the party’s candidate list fraudulently are arrested.

The threat was made at a prayer gathering in Durban on Saturday addressed by MK Party president Jacob Zuma, where a group of members sang, held up placards and demanded that the disputed names be removed from the list.

Zuma moved against the protest, calling it bad behaviour and ordering the group out of the marquee. The members left the gathering but did not drop their demand. Some of those present urged the group to raise the matter after the elections. The group refused.

What the members are demanding

One of the affected members, speaking at the gathering, said the candidate imposed on their branch was not the person members had chosen, and that the party should act against those responsible for the names submitted.

“This is not the person we elected to be our candidate but since he’s kicking us out, he must remain with his thugs. We came here so that Zuma can listen to us. We want him to listen to us and remove these people because their names added on the list fraudulently. We will only participate in the elections if they are arrested but if they are not arrested we will not vote,” the member said.

The complaint is specific. Members say names were inserted into the candidate list submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa in August, and that the people who did it have not been held to account.

The party says it is already acting

MK Party secretary general Sibonelo Nomvalo, speaking in Durban at the same prayer gathering, said the party is dealing with the complaints and had already taken steps after irregularities were found in the names sent to the IEC.

Nomvalo said the party understands what the dispute could cost it on 4 November, and that it remains confident of winning, particularly in eThekwini, where the grievance is concentrated.

He said the anger would not cost the party its support. “We are attending to the matter because we understand the impact it has on the outcomes on the 4th of November. Despite all these challenges we remain confident that we are going to take over especially in eThekwini where we are affected the most. There’s no doubt that the people are not going to lose confidence in the MK Party because they know that it’s the only alternative voice for black people in the country,” Nomvalo said.

Why eThekwini is the ground that matters

eThekwini is the country’s largest metro by population and the single biggest prize on the local government ballot. A party that cannot hold its own members in its strongest metro is carrying a problem into the final weeks of a campaign, whatever its public confidence.

The dispute also has a practical edge. A voter who stays home in eThekwini on 4 November is a vote that does not reach any party, and the margin in a metro council can turn on a few thousand ballots.

Nomvalo’s answer is that the party has opened the file and is working through it. What members at the prayer meeting asked for was not an internal process but an arrest, and that is a demand the party cannot meet on its own. Arrests are a matter for the South African Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority, and no political party decides who is charged.

What happens next

The local government elections are set for 4 November. The IEC has published the candidate lists and the timetable that governs objections to them, and any challenge to a name on a list runs through that process and not through a party gathering.

Until then the question sits with the MK Party’s own structures. Members who were ordered out of a Durban marquee on Saturday have said what they want before they will vote. The party has until the polls to convince them, or to win without them.

Source: SABC News (website), Disgruntled MKP members threaten not to vote over alleged list fraud