Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) officials are set to meet sometime between Sunday and Tuesday to discuss, among other issues, concerns about the conduct of MP Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla and party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela, which is said to be detrimental to the party.
Zuma-Sambudla’s father, party president Jacob Zuma, has called a meeting on Sunday to discuss this and other issues, a source told the Mail & Guardian. They said Sambudla‑Zuma and Ndhela had approached Zuma, attempting to influence him and to disparage parliamentary caucus leader Colleen Makhubele and parliamentary leader and deputy president John Hlophe, but Zuma “wouldn’t hear anything of it”.
On Tuesday, eNCA reported that it had seen a letter addressed to Zuma, in which the party’s caucus in parliament called for Makhubele to be removed from her position, saying her pro-Israel stance betrayed the party’s values. According to the news channel, the MPs also said Makkhubele posed a threat to party unity and had demonstrated poor leadership and conduct that alienated members.
In another leaked letter, dated 23 June, addressed to Ndhela and copied to Zuma, Hlophe said he wanted to formally inform the party spokesperson that he had been removed from the whippery team in parliament, effective immediately.
The source said Ndhlela and Zuma-Sambudla had tried to use the alleged letter against Makhubele to deflect from “the storm” brewing against Ndhlela.
“They saw the letter from the deputy president (copied) to the president. The plan was basically: ‘How do we destabilise this storm that’s coming?’ So they decided to run with some fake stories. All the caucus members said they didn’t know anything about a letter [against Makhubele] … No one has signed any letter,” the source said.
“Remember when the caucus leader was with the Congress of the People, they supported Israel. They’re dredging up all those old things and using them against her. They’re just looking to find something.”
In his letter to Ndhela, Hlophe charged him with:
- Disrespectful communication: Repeated instances of rude, arrogant and dismissive communication toward parliamentary members, including senior leadership, undermining the dignity and collaborative spirit needed in the whippery team.
- Obstruction of parliamentary communications: Hindering the communications team’s work with parliamentary members in press briefings and statement releases, causing delays and damaging the party’s public image.
- Undermining unity and collaboration: Creating divisions among parliamentary members through perceived factional and counterproductive behaviour, contrary to the party’s principles of unity and collective action.
Hlophe gave Ndhela 21 days to appeal the decision.
The behaviour of Sambudla-Zuma has also been slammed by the party’s former secretary general, Folyd Shivambu and expelled MK party founder Jabulani Khumalo.
In February, Zuma-Sambudla had to apologise to Shivambu after insulting him on social media platform X while Khumalo accused her of influencing Zuma into making decisions which were not good for the party.
Asked by the M&G last month — after her appointment as chief whip — how long she expected to remain in the position given the party’s reputation for frequently removing officials, Makhubele said she was unperturbed, insisting that for a new party such as the MK, changes were normal and people needed to adapt.
“At whatever point the leadership feels they need a new skill to stabilise the caucus, to take the caucus in a new direction, they will make those decisions,” she said.
This week, another source said Ndhela and Sambudla‑Zuma generally ignored party structures and resisted being told what to do.
“Manyi was just trying to nurse their egos. Whoever comes and tries to run things organisationally, they do not like it — they want to be in charge,” the source said, referring to former parliamentary chief whip Mzwanele Manyi who was removed in May and replaced by Makhubele.
They accused Ndhlela and Zuma-Sambudla of behaving as if they were founding members of the MK party and who believed they could not be told what to do.
The second source also said no letter calling for Makhubele’s removal had ever been signed by the party’s MPs.
“Where is this letter? People were asked if they signed it, but no one said they did. There’s nothing signed by members of parliament. We are having a meeting tomorrow and no one has signed any letter.”
The MK party’s head of presidency, Magasela Mzobe, said the meeting he was aware of would be confirmed officially by the party’s acting secretary general, Nombuso Mkhize, who would also say whether it would take place on Sunday or Monday.
“I don’t preempt the agenda. I’m part of the committee that drafts it. I’m not panicking about what’s in it or not. Tomorrow [Thursday] the agenda will be finalised. If the matter must be on the agenda, it will be — but it can’t be a meeting just for that item,” he said.
Mzobe said he didn’t understand why party members were creating a non-existent urgency about the meeting, saying officials’ meetings happen regularly “every fortnight night” in the party.
“It’s a standard meeting — these meetings always include reports from parliament. A parliamentary report is a regular item. In the governance report, always delivered by the deputy president, he updates the meeting on what’s happening in parliament,” he said, adding that this particular one had been originally set for this week but was postponed because of a bereavement in the Zuma family.
“The agenda isn’t decided until Thursday, when all issues are brought forward. I don’t know where this assumption came from that one specific thing will be discussed when there is no agenda yet,” Mzobe added.
“I don’t know why people are anxious about the agenda. People are told there’s a meeting and everyone brings their items. I’m meeting the president today or tomorrow. I don’t know why people think we’ll discuss that issue in a standard meeting and not an urgent meeting.”
Asked whether the party would address the alleged theft of R7 million raised by Shivambu during a press briefing two weeks ago, Mzobe said financial and governance reports were standard items in the meetings.
In the media briefing, Shivambu said Zuma was surrounded by “political scoundrels” who exploited his vulnerability in old age to create false intelligence reports and mislead him with the aim of embezzling money from MK.
“They are withdrawing not less than R7 million from the organisation’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.
This week Mzobe told the M&G: “I can’t say we are sitting to look at the R7 million specifically. There is a financial report that must give us what we need to know, and there’s a governance report that must tell us what’s happening in parliament. We’re not panicking just because something’s trending as a headline — it doesn’t require an urgent meeting.”
Makhubele and Hlophe were due to brief the media on Thursday on the latest developments in parliament, including ongoing budget votes.