MK Party Free State leaders tear into each other

Two Free State uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) leaders are locked in an ugly leadership feud that has allegedly split the party in the province as it prepares for the November 4 local government elections.

Sunday World can reveal that provincial chairperson Mafa Msimang and provincial secretary Sandile Mabiza are at loggerheads. Their deteriorating relationship is threatening unity in the party’s structures.

The tension is said to have started earlier this year after Msimang was allegedly sidelined from key decisions about the direction the party should take in preparing to contest the elections and has since developed into an open power struggle.

Sunday World has listened to hostile phone conversations between the two leaders in which they clashed over operations, administration, money and authority.

In a call in July, the tension was clear from the outset.

When Mabiza asked Msimang how he was doing, Msimang shot back: “Don’t ask me about how I am doing. Cut to the chase and say whatever you want to say.”

Mabiza then complained about being excluded from party programmes: “On these matters of your operations and administration, how did you arrange while excluding me?”

The argument turned personal. Mabiza told Msimang that if he wanted to take him back to prison, he was ready.

“You are not going to tell me how I should do my job because I am the MKP secretary in this province. If you want to take me back to prison for doing my administration work, so be it. The last time I was in prison was 14 years ago,” he said.

The argument shifted to who held authority in the provincial structure. “Who are you reporting to? I am not going to listen to you,” Mabiza said.

He later accused Msimang of trying to intimidate him.

“I am a businessman and a pastor and, as such, I have left my criminal past a long time ago. If you have evidence of my criminal activities, run to the police,” Mabiza said.

“You are a child, Mafa, and don’t try to patronise me. If you think you are better, you must think again.”

Mabiza also accused Msimang of arrogance and claimed he had previously helped him financially.

“If you knew how to work with people, you could have been far in politics.

“You are a nobody to tell me that you will take me back to prison. You are a small boy,” he said.

“I was helping you financially while struggling. You are playing with fire and I won’t bewitch you but God and the ancestors will deal with you.”

The hostility continued in another call, this time in August, when the pair clashed over funds needed for the MK Party’s political programmes and dispute-resolution processes.

During the exchange, Mabiza told Msimang that he was his junior. Msimang told him to stay in his lane.

Mabiza also told Msimang that if he believed the MK Party was run by the 26 prison gang, he was “hallucinating”.

Msimang told Sunday World that Mabiza was hostile.

Mabiza said he needed to consult MK Party national spokesperson Sifiso Mahlangu before responding further and promised to revert.

He had not done so by the time of publication.