Property tycoon ditches NFP
Ex-Zuma backer seeks new political home
KWAZULU-NATAL property tycoon and politician Philani Mavundla, who shot to fame by openly claiming that he financially supported former president Jacob Zuma in the early days of Zuma’s corruption trial, is on the move to find a new political home.
Mavundla has dumped the faction-crippled National Freedom Party (NFP) of Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi and is believed to be on the verge of starting his own party just before the Easter holidays.
In a letter he wrote to the municipal manager of Umvoti (Greytown) local municipality in the KZN Midlands, the businessman said he had resigned because he could not serve as an NFP councillor “when I have assumed the membership of another political party”.
The letter was leaked to Independent Media by municipal insiders on Friday evening. However, in the letter Mavundla does not name the party.
Attempts made to get comment from Mavundla himself by phone and text message were unsuccessful.
In the letter, Mavundla also says he submitted his resignation to all relevant bodies, such as the Electoral Commission, in order to pave the way for by-elections in the ward within the stipulated 90-day period.
“My resignation as NFP ward representative is therefore submitted with immediate effect and without reservation,” he said.
Mavundla, who in 2014 offered to settle Zuma’s R7-million Nkandla upgrades bill, joined the NFP in July last year, after ditching the ANC.
He later said that “political killings and corruption” by members of the governing party were among the reasons he left the governing party.
A month later, the NFP fielded him as a candidate in ward 5 of Umvoti municipality, and helped wrest the seat from the ANC. He later vowed that he would rid the municipality of the “rampant corruption crippling it under the current mayor”.
Mavundla’s resignation letter carried the address of Mavundla Square, a large mall (officially opened by Zuma in 2015) he owns in the heart of Greytown.
The letter was written on January11, and was received by the municipality two days later.
Political analyst Xolani Dube, of Durban-based Xubera Institute, said it would be suicidal for Mavundla to start his own political party as he was not known outside KZN.
Dube added that one of Mavundla’s weak points was that he was not willing to be led by others.
“He is a person who treats himself like a traditional king; he wants people who are going to be submissive to him and who will serve him,” Dube said.
Dube also did not rule out seeing Mavundla rejoining the ANC or even moving over to the DA, adding that the businessman appeared to want political power to ensure his business interests were politically ring-fenced.