MK Party rejects cadre deployment, says quality will guide mayoral picks and eyes leftist coalitions

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has said it will prioritise competence over cadre deployment when selecting mayoral candidates for the upcoming local government elections, the party’s secretary-general, Sibonelo Nomvalo, told journalists on Thursday.

Quality, not connections

Nomvalo and other senior MKP officials said the party will soon announce its mayoral candidates and that quality must supersede cadre deployment. He warned that deploying unqualified candidates risks compromising service delivery and the welfare of residents.

“We are not going to use cadre deployment at the expense of quality. Quality must supersede cadre deployment because we have seen on the other side of the political divide in the ANC in particular that the criteria have compromised the quality of service delivery. We must not fall in the same trap,”

Nomvalo said a mayoral candidate should be able to read and understand council reports, especially those relating to city budgets.

“If you take a mayor who is not going to be able to read minutes and understand minutes of a council meeting, we are gambling with the lives of our people. So, experience, knowledge, and skills to the party,”

he said.

Coalition preferences after the vote

On potential post-election partnerships, Nomvalo said the MK Party would ideally work with progressive parties that identify as leftists. He criticised the ANC’s leadership in a broader political remark, saying:

“In this country, if all black parties were progressive and not betrayed by the ANC by now, we would have taken the land back from white people because we have numbers in parliament to do that. But because you have the ANC, which is being led by a project of white people, Cyril Ramaphosa, it is difficult to achieve that goal,”

Nomvalo said.

Discipline and recent suspensions

Nomvalo addressed internal discipline, denying the party is in factional conflict after recent suspensions. He confirmed the party has suspended leaders, including the party’s Chief Whip in parliament, Nthabiseng Mabatho Mokoena-Zondi, and noted that suspension of the party’s spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, occurred weeks earlier.

Defending the suspensions, Nomvalo said enforcing discipline is necessary to prevent anarchy within the organisation.

“We are not going to overlook enforcing discipline because we are scared of rumour mongering. Principles must remain in the organisation because, in the absence of principles and of enforcing organisational discipline, anarchy will prevail,”

he said. He added that party decisions are made in line with its constitution.

What the MK Party emphasised

• Mayoral selections will prioritise experience, knowledge and skills over cadre deployment.
• The party intends to announce mayoral candidates soon.
• MKP expressed a preference for working with progressive leftist parties after the local government elections.
• Nomvalo defended recent suspensions as part of constitutional disciplinary processes.