MKMVA fires back at Mbeki over claims linking MK support to apartheid-era infiltration

MKMVA fires back at Mbeki over claims linking MK support to apartheid-era infiltration

Tensions within South Africa’s liberation movement family spilled into the open this weekend after former president Thabo Mbeki’s remarks reignited long-standing fault lines over history, loyalty and power.

Speaking at the inaugural uMkhonto weSizwe Liberation War Veterans (MKLWV) conference near Bloemfontein, Mbeki reflected on apartheid-era intelligence operations, arguing that infiltration of townships and rural communities was a key tactic used to maintain control before 1994. But it was his suggestion that echoes of that strategy are still shaping today’s political landscape that sparked an immediate backlash.

A charged speech and a controversial link

During his keynote address, Mbeki claimed that forces he described as “counter-revolutionary” had regrouped over time, pointing to political violence and instability as evidence. He linked these forces to the July 2021 unrest, arguing that the scale and coordination of the violence exposed weaknesses within the democratic state.

Mbeki went further, suggesting that support which once sat within Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) hostels in Gauteng during the early 1990s had shifted allegiance to the MK party in recent years, alleging that the same controlling hand was behind both movements.

His comments landed heavily in a political climate already tense following the 2024 elections, where the MK party emerged as a disruptive new force.

MKMVA: ‘Reckless and dangerous’

The uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA), which has long been locked in a battle with the ANC-aligned MKLWV over the MK identity, responded sharply.

MKMVA president and MK party MP Pumlani Kubukeli said the remarks were deeply troubling, accusing Mbeki of implying that MK party members were former apartheid intelligence operatives who had been “reactivated”.

Kubukeli argued that the comments went beyond political critique, warning that they could be interpreted as placing the MK party’s leadership in physical danger. However, he urged MK supporters not to respond with violence, despite what he described as a long-standing personal animosity between Mbeki and former president Jacob Zuma.

Old wounds, unresolved history

The clash highlights unresolved tensions dating back to the transition years, when liberation fighters returned from exile to a country struggling to integrate veterans into civilian life. Kubukeli accused Mbeki of neglecting MK soldiers during his presidency, contrasting that with Zuma’s later establishment of the Department of Military Veterans.

MKMVA reiterated its position that it represents all former MK veterans, regardless of political affiliation, arguing that veterans have too often been pulled into factional battles by leaders who failed to address their material needs.

Public reaction and wider implications

On social media, reactions were split. Some defended Mbeki as a historian of the struggle sounding an alarm about destabilisation, while others accused him of recycling dangerous narratives that deepen political divisions.

As South Africa continues to grapple with its liberation legacy in a new political era, the exchange underscores how the past remains a powerful and volatile, force in the present.

{Source: The Citizen}

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