Mbalula slams Floyd Shivambu as ‘failed politician’ after MK Party demotion
ANC secretary general has slammed former MK Partyse secretary general Floyd Shivambu as a "failed politician" following his public criticism of the ANC and EFF.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula has hit back at former uMkhonto weSizwe (MK Party) secretary-general Floyd Shivambu, suggesting that he is reeling from what he described as a “horrible political accident.”
This comes after Shivambu branded the ANC as “directionless” and aligned with a “white system,” while he also branded the EFF as a cult.
“Floyd doesn’t have any record of giving direction to anything. So we just take that as slanderous remarks coming from a failed politician,” Mbalula said Tuesday on the sidelines of the National Union of Mineworkers’ 2025 National Congress.
“But we wish him luck with what he is trying to achieve,” Mbalula continued.
“The ANC has a guiding document that is reviewed from time to time, including in the context of the Government of National Unity (GNU), to shape direction at all material times.
“So, we don't do things because we’re in accidents. Floyd is in an accident - and it looks like a huge one. When you're in an accident, you’ve got to go and fix the car, or you may be affected mentally and otherwise, because it wasn’t just a head-on collision - it was heavy. And we understand that he’s in a heavy accident.”
Mbalula criticised Shivambu’s brief tenure in the MK Party, especially the speed at which he rose to senior positions before being removed.
“It’s unbelievable that you can be in a party for less than a year, get promoted to the highest positions, help craft constitutions, and still end up being chucked out,” he said.
“So, it must be understood that when you’re faced with an accident it's a horrible experience. That’s what he’s going through.”
There, Shivambu praised the leadership of MK Party president Jacob Zuma while sharply criticising both the ANC and the EFF.
He previously served as deputy president of the red berets for more than a decade, before defecting to the spears of MK Party.
“A substantial number (of people) have said don’t ever try to join the ANC, and I fully agree. I will never join the ANC - it is directionless, does not know what it’s doing, and it’s in collaboration with the white system,” Shivambu said.
“And there are those who said, ‘Do not ever join the EFF because it is a cult.’ I agree with them. There is no space for sound ideological reasoning, and there is no self-respecting person who can join both the ANC and EFF.”
Shivambu insisted he would not resign from the MK Party.
However, his name was not on the party’s final list of members heading to Parliament, despite previous indications that he would be sworn in as an MP.
His removal followed an unsanctioned visit to Malawi, where he met with self-proclaimed prophet Shepard Bushiri.
The MK Party later confirmed it had not approved the trip, and Shivambu was subsequently demoted from his role as secretary-general.
Despite the setback, Shivambu said he plans to engage with South Africans about forming a new political party.
“From next month, we will begin engaging with South Africans with the aim of establishing a political party,” he said. “If the people of South Africa say we should do so, we do not want to do that as a personal project or as a group-of-friends project.
“It must be a party that is owned by the people of South Africa. That’s why we called this press conference - to communicate our intentions. We will be going to the ground to speak to the people. We’ll be talking to young people via social media and other media platforms.”
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