MK veterans rally to former president’s side in ‘war’

● Supporters of Jacob Zuma have likened their support for the former president to a war with enemies in the ANC who are bent on pushing them out of the party.

Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) leader Kebby Maphatsoe said they will never forsake Zuma in his battle against those who are trying to destroy him.

“We are supporting him — he’s one of our own. You don’t leave your own comrade when he sustains injuries at war. You take him, put him on your shoulders, fight with the enemy and try to get out of the danger zone. If you happen to die, you rather die with him, trying to save him.”

Maphatsoe said when the veterans’ candidate for ANC president, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, lost the race at Nasrec in 2017, they rallied behind the winner, Cyril Ramaphosa. But Ramaphosa supporters are now behaving in a triumphant manner and using their majority in the national executive committee (NEC) to actively dismantle ANC structures that are not on their side.

“Where have you ever seen an NEC of the ANC that has disbanded so many structures? It tells you there’s a problem,” he said.

“How many provincial executive committees have they disbanded? We won’t be surprised as MKMVA one day when the NEC takes a decision to disband us because they are triumphalists.”

Maphatsoe said the veterans are aggrieved by how the ANC has treated Zuma.

“What pains us as MK members is that he was even denied the right to campaign for the ANC in the elections. In a way, they were saying, ‘We can’t expel you from the ANC but you’ll expel yourself. In fact, we expel you quietly, that you must never do anything on behalf of the ANC. You are too corrupt, you are tainted.’ He defied the ANC in KwaZuluNatal and if he hadn’t campaigned for the ANC in KZN we would have lost it,” he said.

Maphatsoe said the veterans are not surprised that former ministers Ngoako Ramatlhodi and Siphiwe Nyanda have been outed by Zuma as alleged apartheid agents. It now makes sense why the integration of former MK combatants into the new South African National Defence Force, which Nyanda had overseen, disadvantaged many of those who had fought for liberation.

“We are beginning to connect the dots to say under his leadership of the army, during integration, that is why MK members even now are retiring poor.”

We won’t be surprised ... one day when the NEC takes a decision to disband us Kebby Maphatsoe MKMVA president