Afrika Mayibuye Movement leader Floyd Shivambu Photo: Lunga Mzangwe
Former uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) secretary general Floyd Shivambu says he was fired from the position over a fake intelligence report accusing him of trying to overthrow its leader Jacob Zuma and of using witchcraft to murder people to take over the organisation.
Shivambu told journalists on Thursday that he had been accused of establishing party structures and branches with the intention of toppling Zuma.
“As a result, an extremely bizarre and fake intelligence report was produced which was claimed to be [about a conversation] between me and some people in Africa [to get money to overthrow Zuma],” he said.
“It alleged that, despite me raising money to remove president Zuma, I’m also accumulating supernatural powers to make people disappear.
“There was apparently a head which I was going to be given to give to someone and some people [would] die so that I can become president of the MK party.”
Shivambu’s future in the party has been uncertain after Zuma axed him as secretary general following an unsanctioned trip to Malawi in April to attend a church service led by self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri, a fugitive from South African justice since November 2020.
Earlier in the week, a source told the Mail & Guardian that Shivambu had been fired because he was allegedly trying to solicit funds from business people to finance the formation of his own political party.
“I’m not sure about his financial situation right now or whether it would even allow him to start a new party,” the source said.
“Floyd is leaving, and I understand where he’s coming from. What happened to him was painful.
“There’s just too much gossip and toxicity in the party. I don’t blame him for wanting to leave — it’s exhausting. There’s no one who is safe here. If you want to survive, you have to play along, and that’s just not sustainable.”
On Thursday, Shivambu dismissed this as untrue. He said another fake report had been presented, purporting to show a WhatsApp conversation between him and another person, whom he did not name, in which they discussed how he would use parliament to overthrow the party.
After being removed by Zuma as secretary general, Shivambu had been tipped to move to parliament as an MK legislator, but insiders said his name had since been removed from the party’s list.
On Thursday Shivambu said a letter informing him of his expulsion from MK had been drafted “and put in the briefcase of the president, who said he was going to [send] it as and when he feels like discontinuing my membership”.
He said Zuma was surrounded by “political scoundrels” who exploited his vulnerability in old age to create false intelligence reports and steer him in the wrong direction, with the aim of embezzling money from MK.
“They are withdrawing not less than R7 million from the organization’s coffers. We are addressing this internally, warning them: stop what you are doing because you’re going to get the party deregistered as a political party,” he said.
“There’s no sound reason why this has been happening—it’s real, and it’s happening. Every treasurer-general who raised concerns had to be removed from the MK party leadership.”
Shivambu made clear he did not intend to leave MK. Asked whether he was worried about being expelled, he said he was not, as the party allows dual membership.
Zuma himself has insisted that he remains an ANC member — despite being expelled from the party — in addition to being in MK.
“I don’t beg for membership of a party. I left the ANC when it was in power and had control of all the provinces. Why would I be concerned about leaving the MK party when it’s not in power?” Shivambu said.
There have been suggestions he might rejoin the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) — which he left last year — or the ANC, his political home before cofounding the Red Berets.
But Shivambu on Thursday labeled the EFF as a “cult,” saying it lacked space for sound ideological reasoning and that its senior officials agreed that its leader Julius Malema would never be fit to be South Africa’s president.
“There is no self-respecting person who can join both the ANC and the EFF, and I fully agree with that,” he said, adding that he had achieved more in 10 months with Zuma’s party than he had done in 10 years with the EFF.
“How do you replace an opportunity to learn in 10 months what you couldn’t learn in 10 years?”
Shivambu’s exit from the EFF 10 months ago to MK was followed by that of several former high-ranking Red Beret officials, including Dali Mpofu, Mzwanele Manyi, and Busisiwe Mkhwebane. His departure was viewed as a strategic blow to the EFF by Malema, who later labeled the MK party “enemy number one.”
Malema was furious that former EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi knew Shivambu was leaving but did not inform him. At the time, Malema said he would never trust Ndlozi again, and this resulted in the latter being sidelined from party activities, including being barred from attending last year’s conference.
“They isolated Mbuyiseni on the basis that he knew I was leaving. It wasn’t just Mbuyiseni—other comrades knew,” Shivambu said on Thursday. “We discussed it and concluded that it would be unfair to society to claim that this comrade [Malema] can lead this country.”
“All of us agreed with the people leading the EFF now. That is the reality of the situation. We were unanimous, then the issue became: what did we do?”
He added that if he had intended to undermine the EFF, he could have done so by forming a faction within the party.
“Although there were dynamics—and part of the things I used to appreciate about the EFF—foundationally I came with the idea of forming the EFF.”
When Shivambu resigned as EFF deputy president, Malema indicated that he would welcome him back with open arms if he so wished, but Shivambu has now vowed not to return.
During Thursday’s media briefing, Shivambu said he would travel the country to canvas whether he should form a political party.
“My view about forming a political party is that it must never be founded by an individual. My first response when people came was: let us not form a political party; let us fight within the existing political parties,” he said.
“But if we were to form a political party, let us go to the people of South Africa and ask if they want one. We can’t form a political party as a group of friends or a few individuals.”
He said that a political party should never be an individual or family project, warning against family-run parties:
“A political party should not be a platform for self-enrichment, must not be a fiefdom, and it must never become a cult.”