MKP’s Spare Wheel Wobbles: Ndhlela Axed as Mahlangu Takes Over Spokesperson Role

Motormouth Nhlamulo Ndhlela sacked by his former ally Jacob Zuma MKP president as national spokesperson of MKP and replaced with former Star editor Sifiso Mahlangu.

Johannesburg– The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has swapped its public face again, removing Nhlamulo Ndhlela as national spokesperson and MP with immediate effect and appointing former Star editor Sifiso Mahlangu in his place.

The move, announced by secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo on Monday, exposes the fault lines inside a party that often looks like a spare wheel with a flat tire: assembled from former senior ANC members, but struggling to hold air under pressure.

The decision came during a media briefing led by party president Jacob Zuma and Nomvalo. Nomvalo said the national officials had “reflected on the media statement issued by the MK Institute on 16 May,” where pronouncements were made about the party’s leadership architecture.

Those pronouncements, he said, “do not reflect the views and decisions of the national leadership” and were “beyond the powers of the entity and unconstitutional.” 

The institute, launched in uMhlanga over the weekend, had been presented by Ndhlela and Oupa Mathebula as the central strategic, ideological and administrative authority of the party. It listed senior members including deputy president Dr Mandlakayise John Hlophe, Mduduzi Manana, Dr Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala and Lindelani Mbambo. 

That vision was swiftly rolled back. Nomvalo declared the institute’s statement “null and void” and said it would be integrated into the party’s broader policy-making machinery reporting to the secretary-general.

Ndhlela’s exit marks the end of his tenure as the party’s first national spokesperson since entering Parliament after the 2024 elections. Nomvalo thanked him for “holding the fort” and building the party’s media footprint. The statement gave no further reasons for the removal beyond the institute dispute.

This isn’t Ndhlela’s first clash with MK Party leadership. In June 2025, deputy president and parliamentary leader John Hlophe removed him from the parliamentary whip team, citing “disrespectful communication” toward members and senior leadership, alleged factional activity, and insulting language toward the chief whip. Ndhlela was given 21 days to appeal. He was also involved in public disagreements with former secretary-general Floyd Shivambu last year.

The MK Party said Mahlangu brings “invaluable technical and professional insights” as an academic and former news editor. Mahlangu recently reflected on his time at The Star in a farewell piece, framing journalism as “carrying the weight of truth.”

The crux is this: the MK Party was built as a political home for former senior ANC members who felt pushed out. That lineage gives it name recognition and political muscle, but it also imports the factional habits that broke the ANC from within.

When a body like the MK Institute tries to assert authority over elected structures, and is publicly overruled days later, it looks less like a liberation movement finding its feet and more like a spare wheel being changed on a moving car.

With local government elections approaching in 2026, the party needs a stable communications line and clear chain of command. Whether Mahlangu can provide that, and whether the leadership can contain internal contestation, will determine if the wheel gets repaired or keeps losing air.

Sifiso Mahlangu, former editor of The Star, has been appointed MK Party national spokesperson after Nhlamulo Ndhlela was removed from the role and as MP.