By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) general secretary Fikile Mbalula says they are confident that the Electoral Court will rule in their favour against the IEC’s registration of the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
Mbalula was speaking outside the court room in Bloemfotein, in the Free State.
“Today we are here at court in Mangaung to legally challenge the use of the name and symbols of uMkhonto weSizwe by a new party led by one of the former leaders of the African National Congress Jacob Zuma,” he said. “Indeed, heroes can become villains.”
“We are confident of the arguments we have put forward before the court,” Mbalula said while thanking the masses of ANC supporters who took the journey to the Electoral Court to support their party.
Mbalula said it was a matter of historical record that the MK was a military wing of the ANC in the apartheid struggle, and it was an integral part of the history and heritage of the party.
“The formation of breakaway parties is part of the strategy and tactics of counter-revolution, whose goal is to stop or derail the national democratic revolution.”
“Some of the tactics employed by counter-revolution include: divide and conquer, co-opt and corrupt, capture and weaken the democratic state and unleash violence and create instability.”
The SG said anti-transformation forces are converging into coalitions. These also encourage and fund rebel breakaway groupings, he said.
“It is very disturbing to note that some of the parties that masquerade as radical and have revolutionary-sounding rhetoric have common cause with right-wing forces—they all want to derail the national democratic revolution.”
He said the accumulation of these tactics aims to chip away at the support base of the ruling party.
“In this way, those forming these parties are doing so at the behest of their counter-revolutionary masters who literally pay them to liquidate the ANC morally, politically and organisationally.
“All this flows from the old-age narrative suggesting that the ANC is too big, with a further argument that this in itself is not good for democracy.”
However, these attempts have failed, Mbalula said.
“What we will not tolerate is anyone stealing the assets of the organisation. The main reason why these forces want to liquidate the ANC politically and organisationally is because of the progressive stances the ANC has taken on both domestic and international matters.
MK has roiled the ANC by using the name of its now disbanded military wing that was founded by Nelson Mandela. The ANC is challenging the use of the uMkhonto weSizwe name and a logo that is very similar to that of its old military wing in a separate court case dealing with copyright infringement.
The decision by Zuma to pledge his support to MK added another element to the bitter rivalry. The parties have traded insults over the last few months.
Zuma was forced to step down as South Africa’s leader in 2018 amid corruption allegations and is currently on trial for graft, although that case has faced long delays. He has been highly critical of the ANC under his successor, current South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.