The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature has rejected the election of MPLs to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), which it described as the extension of Britain’s neo-colonialism.  

DA MPL Dr Imran Keeka and ANC’s Mncedisi Maphisa were elected CPA additional members, while the IFP’s Blessed Gwala became its KwaZulu-Natal branch treasurer.

Provincial Speaker Nontembeko Boyce and her deputy, Mmabatho Tembe, were automatically appointed the CPA’s branch president and deputy president, respectively, as per their parliamentary positions.  

They were elected on Tuesday during an event, which was attended by CPA Secretary General Stephen Twigg, a former State for Schools Minister in the United Kingdom, at the provincial legislature in Pietermaritzburg. 

CPA is made up of the British legislature and its former colonies around the world. 

“The CPA, led by King Charles III, whose title rests on stolen labour, expropriated land, and the blood of the colonised, remains a propaganda instrument of empire, cloaked in the rhetoric of ‘parliamentary cooperation’,”  MKP MPL Ishana Barciela said in a statement.

The Commonwealth is made up of 56 former colonies in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific.

The provincial parliament joined the CPA on June 1, 1994, and became a branch on January 1, 1996.

Barciela said that since it was established in 1911, the CPA had done nothing to dismantle colonial legacies.

“But it has reinforced Westminster-centric models of governance that are fundamentally incompatible with African revolutionary traditions and indigenous self-determination,” she said.

MKP said the CPA is an ideological weapon used to benchmark democracy according to British standards while suppressing African systems and revolutionary visions. 

“We are not aligned with the CPA, and we reject its legitimacy, fulfilling the role of a neo-colonial extension of the British Crown’s global influence,” said Barciela.

She accused the CPA of being tight-lipped on the genocide in Gaza. 

“The CPA’s deafening silence in the face of apartheid and genocide exposes its racist double standard and moral bankruptcy.

“This silence is complicity, and it should disturb every honest parliamentarian in Africa,” she said.

She said the MKP was unapologetically anti-colonial and anti-imperialist, a stance that was aligned with BRICS and the South-South Cooperation (SSC). 

“Let it be known that the MKP bears no affection for King Charles and has no respect for the CPA. 

“We are building a new Africa: one that is free, sovereign, socialist and united, and neocolonial institutions have no place in this future,” said Barciela.

Gwala, who has been participating in the CPA since he became an MPL in 1994, lashed out at the MKP, saying that even its leader, Jacob Zuma, was participating in the association’s programmes.

“Unfortunately, to the MKP, whatever is done by someone who is not a member of the MKP is wrong. 

“Jacob Zuma did attend these programmes,” he said.

He said the MKP was associating everything ‘(that is)wrong with white people because they stole the land’.

He said the CPA does not instill colonialism in the minds of its participants, and “it is a figment of their imagination as the MKP to believe that it is so because it is not so”.

“We need to deal with the issues in a manner that will bring social cohesion, which forms part of the CPA, which trains the parliamentarians,” said Gwala. 

Gwala said some of the CPA programmes had been implemented in the provincial legislature. 

“(These include) Programmes of parliamentary democracy, such as gender based issues and quotas to be given to women and youth,” said Gwala. 

 Relaunching the CPA’s KwaZulu-Natal branch, Boyce described the CPA as a network of like-minded parliamentarians from over 180 branches across the nine Commonwealth regions who believed in dialogue and diversity-fueled innovation.

“At its heart, the CPA seeks to strengthen democratic institutions and promote human rights and the rule of law. 

“It reminds us that parliamentary work is not just about lawmaking, it’s about listening, accountability, and ensuring that the voices of ordinary people find expression in the decisions we take,” said Boyce.

She said that through its previous participation, the provincial legislature contributed meaningfully to conversations on parliamentary oversight, the role of subnational legislatures, and women’s representation. 

DA leader in the Government of Provincial Unity, Francois Rodgers, said the CPA supports and promotes democracy, good governance, and human rights within Commonwealth countries by fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing among its member parliaments and legislatures.

bongani.hans@inl.co.za

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