MK Party members brandish a banner with the face of former ANC and state president, Jacob Zuma. (Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
With the deadline of 8 March looming for political parties to submit their national and provincial lists of candidates to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party says it will be ready to meet all the requirements for participation in the polls.
MK party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela told the Mail & Guardian that the party was “80% to 90% done” with their lists and they were “well ahead” with getting the 15 000 signatures required for political parties to compete in the provincial elections.
“Everyone is panicking whether we are going to meet the deadline or not. Absolutely. We have put all the processes in place … we will meet the deadlines whether it would be on the National Assembly list as well as the signatures that are needed per province,” Ndhlela said.
Despite the high profile endorsement by former president Jacob Zuma, it is still unclear who the leaders of the party are and who heads what structures.
The new entrant on the political scene is yet to elect its national and provincial leadership, raising the curiosity of many about whose names it will be submitting to the IEC by Friday.
Asked about the criteria the MK party used to select its public representatives, which include premiers, MPs and MECs, Ndhlela said they would select their candidates on a “micro view”.
“First we start on what would be the micro view. The micro view talks to the fact that we need youth, women, military veterans, traditional healers, traditional leaders and people with disabilities. What you are going to see in our lists is all the groupings in society I’ve just mentioned,” he said.
He said convenors of each province would also select people based on skills they possess to represent different provinces.
“We need certain skills in various areas and we highlight what those skills are. Our convenors, as they engage at the provincial level; they would know exactly what the guiding factor and the kind of skills we need.”
He said the convenors would then send those names to the national structure, which consists of 35 leaders.
“This is like the national executive committee kind of set up. We will have to sift through every kind of name, every single province and every single grouping. This is how we are going about it.”
He said that prominent leaders who are part of its upper structures include Zuma, FeesMustFall activist Bonginkosi Khanyile, Duduzile Zuma and party head of elections Muzi Ntshingila.
But, Ndhlela said, the party was far from selecting its premier candidates, adding that internal elections are likely to take place after the 29 May elections.
Ndhlela said the party had capable people who could fill top positions in government, but those people needed to emerge through the proper structures.
“Our focus right now is that we are not looking at positions. The issue of the national lists you can always change. The national list, you are given an opportunity to amend it. The list that we are putting in is not cast in stone. There could be an amendment.”
Ndhlela said the party was still crafting its manifesto, which will probably be launched in April.
The manifesto would finally explain to voters what the MK party stood for and what it would do should it be elected into government.
“To put together a manifesto you need a grouping of people who are highly skilled, people that have been in government and people that are still in government,” he said.
“We are working with people who are in the private sector or learned. Some of them have even left government because of the environment that it is currently in.”