Traditional leaders aligned to the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) are lobbying party leader, Jacob Zuma, to appoint a secretary-general from the traditional leadership ranks.

More than 100 traditional leaders (amakhosi) from all over the country descended on Nkandla on Sunday to meet Zuma over the matter; however, they returned without seeing him. They were told he was unaware of the meeting. 

The leader of the delegation, Prince Khulekani Dlomo from the Makhabeleni Traditional Council in Kranskop near Greytown, in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, said they were disturbed by the confusion created by those who were organising their meeting with Zuma.

Dlomo said the amakhosi were informed that the meeting would take place; however, Zuma was nowhere to be seen, adding that the amakhosi feel they are being treated like commoners within the party.

He said it was one of the concerns they came to address with Zuma. Dlomo said the top item on the agenda was to ask Zuma to allow amakhosi to choose a new secretary-general for the party because they needed someone from their rank who has a clear understanding of the traditional leadership protocols.

“We have arranged a new meeting with President Zuma. We need to ask him to allow us to choose the new SG. We already have that person, and he is clear about amakhosi’s needs and how to work with them using traditional protocols. What happened to us on Sunday would not have happened if we already had an SG who understands how to arrange a meeting for amakhosi,” said Dlomo.

Although Dlomo did not want to reveal the name of the person of their choice, it is believed that amakhosi want induna Phumlani Mfeka for the position, a leader of the socio-economic group Injeje yaBenguni, which advocates for African nationalism.

It was also reported that there was a faction of the party that was lobbying for militant Bonginkosi Khanyile to take over.

Attempts to get comments from both Khanyile and Mfeka were unsuccessful. The party’s spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, said it will announce the new secretary-general in due course.

The position became vacant after the party axed Floyd Shivambu in June following his unsanctioned trip to Malawi, where he attended a church service of a fugitive pastor, Shepherd Bushiri, who skipped bail in South Africa in 2020.

However, it later emerged that the real reason was that Shivambu wanted to overthrow Zuma and resume the party leadership, which he denied. He also claimed to be accused of accumulating supernatural powers to bewitch party members.

Willem.phungula@inl.co.za

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