From Zuma to Tom Moyane’s nephew, the MK party is awash with controversy

29 Feb 2024

Over the past few days, more information has emerged about the policies and personalities of some of those involved in uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK), the party known mainly because of its campaigner-in-chief, former president Jacob Zuma. The information will not make the people of SA feel less perturbed.

Jacob Zuma, a leading campaigner for the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party, has expressed incendiary views about teenage pregnancies and gay marriage. The party’s other public figure, its spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, has confirmed to Daily Maverick that former SA Revenue Service (SARS) commissioner Tom Moyane is his uncle, and that he once ran a company that won a SARS contract which was subsequently voided.

In 2016, the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism broke a story that a company controlled by Moyane’s nephew had won a R2.2-billion tax collection contract from SARS that could net him around R220-million.

That nephew was Ndhlela, who as the spokesperson for MK has given dozens of interviews.

In response to questions from Daily Maverick, Ndhlela said, “Tom Moyane is my uncle and it’s known he’s my father’s brother.”

Asked whether Moyane was involved in the MK party, Ndhlela said, “I don’t know who is involved in MK. I’ve not spoken to him about that.”

He denied that he did anything wrong when he bid for a contract at SARS in 2016. He said, “On my CV, I stated categorically on my references that Tom Moyane was a reference. With his cell number. I put my ID number there.”

He said that when applying for the contract he had to answer the question, “Do you know anyone that works for government, any person who is part of the ad hoc committee?

“I then say ‘no’. Why do I say ‘no’? Because I don’t know who sits on the ad hoc committee. I know that depending on the type of business they would be a representative of the unit.”

When it emerged that Ndhlela had won the contract, SARS issued a media statement saying Moyane had not been aware his nephew had bid for it. The contract was eventually voided.

The Nugent Commission later found that Moyane and the consultancy Bain had deliberately weakened SARS and that Bain had diligently billed for its “work”.

It was also known that Moyane and Zuma were close — and that the weakening of SARS was to the benefit of Zuma.

Underground planning

In the meantime, Ndhlela recently said, “It has taken four years of underground planning and working towards setting up what you now see today as a party that is garnering a lot of support from the most ordinary people who actually want to see change.”

If Zuma was involved in uMkhonto Wesizwe from that time, it would mean he was attending ANC NEC meetings (as an observer) while working for a party that planned to stand against the ANC.

Meanwhile, Zuma has been quoted by News24 as speaking about teenage pregnancies at an event with traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this week.

He said, “We are going to take the children and fly them … [to Robben Island] so that they can study until they finish and stop this thing [teenage pregnancies].”

The report quoted him as saying that teenage pregnancies were a “disease” and sometimes children have “two, three children, but there is no baby-daddy in sight and they are not married”.

Rape charge and affairs

Zuma may wish to reflect on his personal history.

He had unprotected sexual intercourse with the daughter of a comrade, showered afterwards to protect himself from contracting Aids, and then had to fight a rape charge.

During that case, in 2006, Judge Jeremiah Shongwe had to recuse himself because Zuma had had an affair with the judge’s sister, which led to her giving birth to a son, Edward Zuma. (This did not stop Zuma from appointing Shongwe as the chair of the Electoral Court while he was president.)

In 2010, Zuma had an affair with Sonono Khoza, which resulted in the birth of one of Irwin Khoza’s grandchildren.

In 2018, a future reality TV star, Nonkanyiso Conco, had a child with Zuma.

She refused to disclose her age, but was believed to be in her mid-20s. Zuma was 78.

It is not known if he is playing an active role in the upbringing of their child.

However, Ndhlela said sending teenage girls who are pregnant to Robben Island is not official MK policy.

He said, “President Zuma speaks as a father and a grandfather to the youth. So, when he’s speaking in our culture … you need to give examples that will give them some sort of sense of how serious you are. It’s like if you tell your children: ‘If you are continuously naughty, I’ll send you to the moon.’ Sometimes you use exaggeration when you’re speaking to your children. It doesn’t necessarily mean it is our policy.”

Ndhlela appeared to backpedal slightly from Zuma’s comments about gay marriage.

Zuma was quoted as saying, “Where does the law that a man can be in a romantic relationship with another man come from? Who will women be left with? It’s a disgrace.”

Ndhlela said Zuma was answering questions from traditional leaders about this issue and suggested, “This is not something that is coming from President Zuma, and not the first time he has been approached.”

He went on to say, “Customary law is not recognised in the same way that civil marriages are recognised. We have polygamy. Why is it that polygamy is frowned upon, but gay marriage is legal?”

To be clear, Ndhlela said, “MK is not going to ban gay marriage”, and “decisions must be made by society. It’s not a Zuma or an MK decision on anything or any act or matter in the Constitution.”

A fundamental problem

This does appear to be at odds with Zuma’s sentiment that gay marriage “is a disgrace”.

All of this points to a fundamental problem that MK faces.

Despite the fact he did not legally establish MK, Zuma and his image completely overshadow the party. He is the sole source of this party’s prominence — without him, very few people would be talking about it.

As a result, when he makes comments about social issues, people will assume that those are the views of MK.

And because the other leaders reflected on the party’s website do not have a national profile, Zuma is the only person most people will refer to.

The only other person from the party who is quoted regularly is Ndhlela. As a result, his history will be discussed.

All of this makes it easy for MK’s opponents to claim it is simply a vehicle for Zuma’s plans and is motivated only by his frustration at having been removed from power. DM

Read more in Daily Maverick about the MK Party's debut performances in by-elections: MK takes votes from ANC, EFF in Mpumalanga debut

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South Africa

Underground planning

Rape charge and affairs

A fundamental problem