UMKHONTO we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) President Kebby Maphatsoe has hit back at the ANC’s national working committee’s ‘decision’ to disband the organisation.
This follows a meeting on Thursday in which ANC deputy Secretary-General Jessie Duarte informed Maphatsoe that the party’s NWC has decided to disband MKMVA, and has ordered it to establish an MK Inclusive Preparatory Committee to prepare for a unitary conference of MK veterans.
Maphatose said the decision by the party’s NWC to disband the MKMVA has come as a big surprise because the party’s national office bearers, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, recently instructed him together with the chairperson of the Peace and Stability Committee of the NEC, Tony Yengeni, to convene an MK unity conference.
He dismissed suggestions that the association has been disbanded.
Maphatsoe said no ANC NEC meeting has met and decided to disband the MKMVA, contrary to the decision taken by the NWC.
In a letter to Duarte on Sunday, Maphatsoe said the ANC National Office Bearers instructed MKMVA to prioritise the following matters: “1. The welfare of ex combatants; 2) Cleaning up of the data-base; 3) Unite all MK cadres; 4) Prepare for an MK unity conference. As MKMVA we have dutifully carried out these instructions. Thus, now being confronted by a radical deviation from these instructions, I have requested that the MKMVA NEC be given the chance to meet, and deliberate about the situation, and as a disciplined organisation that our NEC be given the opportunity to respond in a representative and democratic manner.”
He added: “In preparation for our NEC meeting I have informed our MKMVA Officials and NWC about what transpired in the meeting between you and myself … Our leadership have requested me to write this letter to you, requesting for further information about the reasons behind the drastic deviation from the agreed on MK unitary process that our MKMVA NEC had mandated myself and the MKMVA leadership to participate in.”
Divisions came to a head when senior MK members, including commanders, formed a counter group branded the MK Council in the lead up to the ANC’s elective conference.
The MK Council, which was led by former MK chief of staff and former SA National Defence Force (SANDF) chief Siphiwe Nyanda, questioned the legitimacy of MKMVA under its president Kebby Maphatsoe.
The two groups were expected to hold a joint elective conference last year, but MK Council abandoned the June conference, claiming it was attended by bogus members and said participating would be a futile exercise.
Maphatsoe was re-elected to lead the MKMVA and the party’s constitution was amended to change his position from chairperson to president.
- Inside Politics
