FOLLOWING his sudden and unceremonious resignation as a member of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), which appears to be fractured by factional battles, Induna Phumlani Mfeka penned a scathing letter to party leader and former president Jacob Zuma.
In a candid interview with the Daily News following his abrupt resignation on Monday, Mfeka, also the leader of the royal lobby group INjeje YabeNguni, said his door was still open for negotiations with the top leadership.
In his resignation letter, Mfeka, the founding member of the MKP, claimed that the party had veered off from its founding principles and values.
“I no longer have the confidence that the MKP will be able to advance the revolution presented by President Jacob Zuma on December 16, 2023 (when he endorsed the MKP),” said Mfeka.
Mfeka was blunt during his interview with the Daily News, saying there were some leaders in the MKP who were sowing the divisions within the party.
“The party is deviating from the original values. I expressed this concern to former president Jacob Zuma. This is not the party I joined in December of 2023,” stated Mfeka.
Mfeka alleged that certain leaders were bent on upstaging founding members from positions of authority.
He refused to be drawn into revealing the names of the said leaders.
Mfeka enjoys a massive following coming from his core constituency, which includes traditional leaders, Izinduna and Amakhosi, due to him being the leader of the INjeje YabeNguni.
“I will call an Imbizo soon to inform my core constituency of my decision to leave the MK party. I owe it to them as the people I lead and share the same values and principles with. We joined the MKP believing that it would prioritise traditional leaders. But we have seen now that the traditional leaders are being sidelined in the MKP,” he said.
The MKP, currently the largest party in KwaZulu-Natal and the official opposition to the Government of Unity (GNU) in the National Assembly, has found itself embroiled in continuous internal conflicts, most notably marked by a public spat involving Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, and the party’s secretary-general, Floyd Shivambu.
Duduzile fired a jab at Shivambu on social platform X, formerly Twitter, telling him he was a useless leader and she did not fear him.
Zuma swiftly intervened and ordered Duduzile to apologise. Mfeka was believed to be an ally of Duduzile, as the party was torn between her backers and those supporting Shivambu.
An insider within the MKP described Mfeka’s resignation as a “huge blow” to the party’s strategic efforts, especially with the local government elections on the horizon in 2026.
“This is a huge blow. But I hope that Nxamalala (Zuma) will intervene and convince Mfeka to withdraw his resignation letter. We can’t afford to lose someone like him especially ahead of the local government elections.”
This is not the first time Mfeka has found himself at loggerheads with the top brass of the MKP.
This is not the first instance of Mfeka clashing with the party’s leadership.
Last year, he publicly called for his name to be withdrawn from the parliamentary list, citing manipulation of the candidate selection process.
However, after a marathon meeting with Zuma in his Nkandla homestead, lasting three days, he reversed his decision.
He has served in the provincial legislature since June last year, following the May elections.
The spokesperson of the MKP, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, could not be reached for comment and did not respond to messages to him.
DAILY NEWS