By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has suspended Nhlamulo Ndhlela over the allegations of misconduct and sowing divisions within the party.
In a statement released on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, the party said Ndlela is accused of misconduct, sowing divisions and bringing the party into disrepute.
He has also been ordered to refrain from representing the party in any capacity and to return all party property, including laptops, documents, access and membership cards.
“Pending the outcome of the investigation, you are instructed to refrain from representing the party in any official capacity,” the letter stated.
Ndhlela was replaced as national spokesperson and Member of Parliament, on Monday, 18 May 2026.
The change comes after the party’s launch of the MK Institute in uMhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, over the weekend. The launch was accompanied by a media statement delivered by Ndhlela and Oupa Mathebula.
The statement said the institute was established as central strategic, ideological and administrative authority of the party.
It was politically led by MK Party deputy president Dr Mandlakayise John Hlophe and included senior party members, among them Mduduzi Manana, Oupa Mathebula, Dr Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, Lindelani Mbambo and Ndhlela.
Ndhlela presented the MK Institute as part of a broader re-organisation aimed at transforming the party from a conventional political party into a liberation movement. It was intended to assume full responsibility for the political management and administration of the MK Party, with all leadership structures reporting to it.
However, on Monday, party secretary Sibonelo Nomvalo declared the pronouncements from the institute “null and void” and confirmed that the institute would be integrated into the broader organisational policy-making machinery reporting to the secretary-general.
“The national officials reflected on the media statement issued by the MK Institute on 16 of May, where certain pronouncements were made regarding the leadership architecture of the MK Party and also purported changes to the current constitutional leadership dispensation in the party,” Nomvalo said.
“The media statement does not reflect the views and decisions of the national leadership of uMkhonto weSizwe Party. Members of the institute have accepted the guidance of national officials, that the statement was necessarily beyond the powers of the entity and unconstitutional.”
Ndhlela served as the MK Party’s first national spokesperson after the party entered parliament following the 2024 general elections.