CASH CRISIS THREAT TO MK PARTY CAMPAIGN: BROKE, DIVIDED AND FACING LOCAL ELECTIONS DISASTER
By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief
The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.
AZANIAFROCOMEDIA – The Catalyst of Impact
By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief
The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.
AZANIAFROCOMEDIA – The Catalyst of Impact
The party that inflicted a hammer blow on the ANC in the 2024 elections is now fighting to survive itself.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party, which emerged as the country's third largest political force and the dominant party in KwaZulu-Natal, is facing a devastating financial crisis that insiders fear could make it impossible to hold the party together — just months before this year's critical local government elections.
It is broke. It is divided. And it is under investigation by the IEC.
A detailed investigation by Sunday Times, confirmed by MK insiders, reveals two crises colliding at once: unpaid bills that have chased away service providers, and an escalating internal war over the selection of councillor candidates.
The lists submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) for this year's local elections are now under investigation, raising serious questions about the MK Party's ability to run an effective campaign in eThekwini — the metro it believes it can win.
Party president Jacob Zuma has been forced to intervene.
In a statement this week, the party said Zuma regards allegations that legitimate candidates had been removed from lists submitted to the IEC and replaced with other names as extremely serious.
"The integrity of the organisation cannot be compromised," the party said, adding there was "no place for manipulation, political gatekeeping or the abuse of organisational processes."
Zuma has already acted — removing Zandile Hlophe-Mhlawayo and Sihboniso Maphumulo and national officials from the national leadership committee and disbanding the presidential task team. Hlophe-Mhlawayo was also the party's removed candidate for eThekwini. She has since been replaced by former ATM member and influencer Mthokozisi Khubisa.
But insiders are blaming Secretary-General Sihboniso Nombalo for the mess.
"This is a problem because we risk having candidates who do not want to work or people who refuse to campaign," one insider told Sunday Times.
Another insider said the chaos is not limited to eThekwini.
"It goes beyond eThekwini. It is not only KwaZulu-Natal. We have the same complaints in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Msunduzi and Mbombela. The presidential task team has been running the party as if it belongs to them. There is a lot of anger and people are projecting that we could take eThekwini."
Behind the political turmoil is a deeper financial rot that insiders say could collapse the party's local elections machinery.
An eThekwini insider said service providers who had worked with the party since its formation are now reluctant to take on more work because of unpaid bills.
"It has been chaos. We have service providers telling us they are frustrated because they have not been paid. There are people who helped us when we were starting the organisation. Some are small businesses that believed in the party and wanted to see it succeed. They did the work, but they have not been paid," the insider said.
The fallout is now threatening MK's big moment — its manifesto launch in eThekwini.
"We wanted to launch our manifesto in eThekwini. We wanted to show the people of eThekwini that we are ready to lead, but now there is a perception that we do not pay people. If businesses do not want to work with us, how are we going to roll out the kind of launch we wanted?" another insider said.
A third insider said the financial problems deepened after Secretary-General Floyd Shivambu centralised financial control in his office, revoking signing authority from officials including the treasurer-general and secretary-general, and dissolving the strategic presidential team.
"When the president took over the finances, he took control of the contracts with service providers. Businesses that were waiting to be paid were left without payment because their contracts were not recognised. Now they do not want to work with us. We will have to cancel the manifesto launch. We wanted something big. This is our first local government election, and there is a real possibility that we could take eThekwini. That is huge," the insider said.
"But I doubt we will have the manifesto launch as originally planned. We do not have the money. We will have to go back to businesses to help us. Otherwise it will be a much smaller event."
The party itself has confirmed the crisis. In June, the treasurer-general's office announced that all travel, accommodation, car hire and venue hire booked and paid for by the organisation would be suspended to "focus on critical financial processes like bank account signatories, budget and appropriate allocation of funds to ensure the organisation remains financially stable."
The financial pressure has even extended to its public representatives. Insiders say the former secretary-general had called on MK Party MPs and MPLs to pay their outstanding contributions to help meet obligations.
In a leaked letter, MK leadership accused treasurer-general Mpiyakhe Limba of failing to raise funds, noting that party accounts were not working effectively, with structures in KZN paralysed.
"KZN principals presented to me the millions you have taken out of the accounts and promised that you will pay yet to date you have not done so," Zuma reportedly told Limba.
For a party that was expected to perform strongly in KwaZulu-Natal, with some polls projecting it could take outright control of the eThekwini metro, the timing could not be worse.
From revolutionary hope in 2024 to cash-strapped chaos in 2026 — the MK Party is learning that winning votes is easier than running a party.
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