A battle for the hearts and minds of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veterans has started among ANC leaders as the vets meet this weekend at their national conference in Boksburg to reclaim their centrality in ANC politics.
President Thabo Mbeki last week bestowed the Order of Mendi for Bravery on MK’s Luthuli Detachment, in a move read by his critics as a measure to appease the military veterans bemoaning their isolation from the ANC.
As a patron of the MK Military Veterans Association (MKMVA), Mbeki was invited to address the conference, but the organisers said he had not confirmed his attendance.
ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe and representatives of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) were also expected to attend.
The military veterans are known to support Zuma’s presidential bid, but former MK cadre and presidential contender Tokyo Sexwale is believed to be fighting for a share of their support.
MK, which was disbanded on December 16 1994 at Orlando Stadium, has regrouped to demand voting powers at this year’s conference.
“Many ex-combatants today feel marginalised by the post-1994 political dispensation that they helped to bring about. Ex-MK combatants feel that their challenges ought to be addressed and they should be integrated into the broader development agenda being pursued by our country,” said Dumisani Khoza of the MKMVA.
ANC secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe has said the future status of the MK veterans and whether they will be granted voting rights will be determined at the December conference.
A decision to grant the MK veterans a constitutional status would force the party to consider a constitutional amendment giving them the same voting powers as the ANCYL and the Women’s League.
The veterans are assumed to be the ace up Zuma’s sleeve and their return to active politics is expected to breathe life into the Zuma campaign.
Zuma already has the backing of MK vets in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Limpopo and North West.
Sexwale has been campaigning among the veterans and a symbolic partnership with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is expected to win him the hearts of some MK delegates.
He is accepted because he was among the first cadres of the ANC military wing. He was a soldier in the Luthuli Detachment — the first group of MK soldiers, who included Chris Hani, that fought the combined force of the Rhodesian and South African armies in the Spolilo and Wankie campaigns of 1967/68.
In a nationwide campaign for MK support, Sexwale has already addressed the MKMVA in the Eastern Cape, in the Western Cape and in the Free State. He is also scheduled to address the joint rally organised by the MKMVA and the South African Student Congress on Saturday in Berlin outside East London.
Former MK national deputy commissar Sihle Mbongwa said the majority of the MK veterans preferred Zuma and would therefore support the leadership list produced by Zuma’s backers — the ANCYL, Cosatu and the South African Communist Party.
“We are going with Zuma because those lobbying for him have communicated their positions on the direction the party should take and on his commitment to the national democratic revolution.
“We believe that Zuma embraces our views that the ANC and the ANC-led government should continue to be biased to the working class.”
He said the veterans were also confident that Zuma would be more understanding of the struggle of the poor and more sympathetic with those who had been part of ANC underground structures.
“Our comrades who went to iNkandla to talk to Zuma have reported that they are satisfied that Zuma shares our vision. It is for this reason that he gets our unqualified support.
“He has communicated to us that he is also concerned about the slow pace of service delivery.
“He also, like us, believes that the ANC should lead government and not the other way round. He is committed to building a people-centred ANC.”
MK veteran and former South African National Defence Force chief General Siphiwe Nyanda said MK had no choice but to disband before cadres were incorporated into the defence force where they would not be allowed to participate in politics.
Nyanda also resigned from the leadership of MK and the ANC when he joined the army.
“We are now saying the departure of MK, which is known to have been a repository of ANC politics, left the ANC weakened and the ideological depth of its new leadership is deteriorating.
“We also see the new leadership moving away from the revolutionary path of the ANC and we are demanding it returns to this path.”
He said MK cadres who had been absorbed into the army should be “non-partisan”, not “apolitical”.
“Even when I was part of the leadership of the defence force, I was also expected to deliver on the ANC transformation agenda,” said Nyanda.