By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has officially terminated the membership of its former Secretary General, Floyd Shivambu, citing a series of public statements that have placed him outside the party’s ideological framework.
Party national chairperson Nkosinathi Nhleko announced the expulsion on Friday afternoon.
“The decision has been taken to summarily terminate the membership of the former Secretary General, and the formal letter of expulsion was transmitted to him on the 15th of July 2025.”
Shivambu was removed as secretary-general in June and demoted to an ordinary member of the party as a sanction for having visited fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri in Malawi during Easter period.
Treasurer-General Mpiyakhe Limba said Shivambu left the party with a debt of R28 million.
Shivambu said there were withdrawals of R7m monthly from its coffers and that he had raised these concerns internally.
However, Limba dismissed the claims, saying the former EFF deputy president had instead left the party with a debt of R28m.
Shivambu has since started his Mayibuye consultative process towards establishing a new political party, which is now registered with the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
The party has appointed Dr Bongani Mncwango as its new secretary-general and Nomsa Dlamini as his deputy.
Other changes include moving national organiser Joe Ndhlela to policy coordination and replacing him with one of its MPs Aleck Nkuna.
Nhleko said the party has had some gaps in the national leadership collective, hence it was making the changes.
Reacting to news of his expulsion, Shivambu said he “fully accepts” the decision taken by the party.
Zuma said, some members were lucky that he had not fired them and reiterated that the organisation would not hold an elective conference.
“They say I am firing people all the time. We didn’t come here to play. If you want to play, we are not playing; that is why we are not going to go to a conference that has white money,” he told a media briefing.
“We are only going to meet as a party to discuss how we are taking the party forward. If you can’t listen, we’ll remove you. You are lucky because [the national leadership] warned me. [Otherwise] I would have fired a lot of people by now. The leaders have said I should wait a bit, and they will fix it.”
The newly formed MK party came third in last year’s elections – a major factor in the governing ANC losing its majority for the first time since democratic elections were introduced in 1994.