Political Analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu says former President Jacob Zuma remains the main drawcard for the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.
The party is celebrating its first anniversary rally in Durban at the Moses Mabhida stadium today.
At just under 6 months, the party secured the highest number of votes in the May general elections.
Mngomezulu says there are pros and cons to Zuma’s grip on the electorate, as May’s results demonstrated.
“It is good because the party is growing under his leadership. Now let us say he exits the stage in whatever form what then we can answer that by looking at what happened in the NFP – will they be strong enough to stand firm or will they also disintegrate? What then? So that is the problem with having a party that is built around an individual and not necessarily a collective.”
Meanwhile, Mngomezulu says Zuma’s issues with the African National Congress remain unresolved despite the party’s decision to expel him.
“It is true that former President Zuma has unresolved issues with the ANC, and it is understandable former Pres Zuma is of the view that the ANC failed to defend him, and the reality is that he has unfinished business with the ANC. The reason why he formed MK party was not to fight the ANC but to fight Ramaphosa. Because he realised that if he used state institutions you are not going to win – form a party that is going to reduce the majority of the ANC and then call them to a table and say let us discuss and say let us remove Ramaphosa – but that did not work out of course which is why we have a multi-party coalition.”
VIDEO| Professor Bheki Mngomezulu weighs in on MKP:
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