MK Party redeployment or reckoning? Oh Floyd Shivambu, it was always going to end in tears

IOL News

2 days ago

Floyd Shivambu has been removed as the MK Party secretary general, just a few months after clashing with former president Jacob Zuma's daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla.
Image: Sihle Mlambo/IOL
It was only a matter of time until the tide turned violently against Floyd Shivambu in the uMkhonto weSizwe Party.
The official stance from the MK Party is that Shivambu violated the MK Party Constitution, ironically, a document he is credited for penning.
However, his tumultuous relationship with Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, the sweetheart daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, cannot be ignored.
Of course, Zuma-Sambudla publicly admonished Shivambu with expletives, describing him as the "worst thing that has happened to the MK Party". She later, reluctantly, apologised, only after being publicly lashed by her dad.
But, since that day, the daggers have been out for Shivambu. What followed, despite the apology, were attacks aimed at the SG, from MK Party Youth leaders and factions seen as sympathetic to Dudu, as she is affectionately known.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Dr MK Zwakala, a political brand analyst, remarked that if indeed Shivambu had contravened the party constitution, why was he being redeployed, instead of being made to apologise and ultimately, facing a disciplinary.
Zwakala believes that 'there is much more beyond the Bushiri visit', and it is difficult to disagree with this analysis.
Of course, the official stance is that the fired secretary general violated the party's constitution, specifically concerning Section 3(J), which states:
'Undertaking international trips and participating in activities and programmes that are opposed to the agenda of the MK Party or an allied party'.
MK Party chairperson Nathi Nhleko said this referred to Shivambu's Bushiri visit in Malawi during the Easter weekend, where Shivambu was seen openly rubbing shoulders with the fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri, even describing the fugitive as a Pan Africanist with vision and community impact - despite him being accused of raping young girls in South Africa.
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Really Floyd? For one applauded for his academic stature, clarity and as a known Marxist scholar, why would you wish to associate with such, thuggery?
One of the IOL headlines at the time of the Bushiri mess screamed: 'What are you doing Floyd?'
What followed was high-profile public lashings from no less than the Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, giving Shivambu's detractors, internally, fuel to remove him - for visiting his "brother", Bushiri.
'After lengthy discussions and considerable inputs from the National Officials, it was concluded that the actions by the Secretary General were found to be against the spirit and the prescripts of the MK Party Constitution.
'Noting that on the 12 March 2025, The Republic of Malawi's Chief Resident Magistrate delivered a ruling that granted the South African Republic's request for the extradition, it is common knowledge that Bishop Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary Bushiri skipped bail, and are to return to South Africa to stand trial on various charges.
Thank you my brother, Prophet Bushiri for hosting us and for the kind words. The government scale amount of work you do to economically, educationally, socially and spiritually uplift our people is unparalleled now and in history.
I know that the leadership and people of Malawi… https://t.co/A7x2SSHQWF — Floyd Shivambu (@FloydShivambu) April 19, 2025
'Based on the deliberations by the National Officials, it was reaffirmed that the trip was not an officially sanctioned programme of the organisation or the President, which therefore goes against the constitution of the party. The MK Party and its leadership, has been approached by members of various sectors of civil society and has taken due consideration of the gravity of this matter.
'Due to the serious nature of this matter and its implications for the party, its image, values and principles, The President and the National Officials were left with no other option but to act swiftly in addressing this matter. Consequently, as a responsible organisation accountable to its electorate and the broader society, the National Officials have come to a decision to redeploy Commander Floyd Shivambu as the Secretary General of the party, and redeploy him to the National Assembly.
'We believe that his redeployment will strengthen the MK Party caucus as the Official Opposition, as Commander Shivambu carries a wealth of experience as a former member of Parliament,' read Nhleko on behalf of the MK Party leadership.
Under Zuma's leadership of the MK Party, there has been one consistent theme: instability.
The position of secretary general appears to be a poisoned chalice, with those adorned the title of SG barely lasting in the job.
Shivambu has been the longest serving SG thus far in that revolving door, but the mistake he made was to fail to read the room.
Once he publicly clashes with Dudu, there was only ever going to be one winner, and that was never going to be the former leader of the EFF.
When Shivambu left the Economic Freedom Fighters to join the MK Party last year, it shocked all and sundry, including his former ally and Siamese twin, Julius Malema, who had famously declared to all that Uncle Floyd be part of a delegation to see him off should he die.
At the time, we warned in a column that the Floyd Shivambu-MKP dalliance could spell the end for the MKP-EFF-led Progressive Caucus - and the events of the past nine months have proved devastating for the so-called progressive left, with little unity between the two main parties, the MKP and the EFF.
When Shivambu was appointed national organizer of the MK Party, the honest politician - as Zuma described him upon joining from the EFF - denounced smaller political parties, characterising them as 'fiefdoms of individuals'.
At the time, his remarks were aimed at the EFF's Julius Malema, but he was careful to state that it wasn't, instead pointing to the United Democratic Movement of Bantu Holomisa and the Inkatha Freedom Party, formerly of the late Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
But Malema, Holomisa and Buthelezi aside, the MKP is also Zuma's little fiefdom, run in the image and disguise of Zuma's wishes, and perhaps those of his daughter, Duduzile.
The MKP has shown in character and the manifesting chaos around it, that it is exactly that too. Zuma pleaded for time for the party during an hour long speech, and he asserted yet again, that people would be fired, should they not perform. And Shivambu, and many others, have been fired in the past year, as Zuma still has the ultimate powers to hire and fire as he pleases.
With Magasela Mzobe as the Head of the Presidency at the Private Office of President Zuma, Shivambu has an ally in the former ANC Youth League leader who can do some of his bidding for him.
But unlike Mzobe, there are hundreds more around the MK Party leadership who are far less sympathetic and who have little appreciation for Shivambu and his Marxist virtues.