Former president Jacob Zuma, who is preoccupied with MK Party’s election campaigns, was fired as Sanco KZN chairperson for absconding all its meetings. Picture: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers.
Durban — The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party is angry that former president Jacob Zuma has been expelled as the chairperson of KwaZulu-Natal’s South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco).
Sanco announced the decision on Friday, saying that Zuma had been fired for failing to attend its meetings without rendering an apology.
Confirming the expulsion, Sanco provincial secretary Sizwe Cele accused Zuma of attempting to collapse the provincial structure by not attending its meetings since he was elected as its chairperson last year.
But MK provincial co-ordinator Philani Mdluli hit back, saying that Sanco’s decision did not matter to them.
Mdluli said Sanco was meant to be an important organisation, operating within the ANC, Cosatu and SACP alliance, to fight for the rights of ratepayers countrywide but it had abandoned its mandate.
“Those people who have turned against Msholozi (Zuma) will find themselves in the dustbin of history because Zuma is on the right side of history,” he said.
Mdluli accused Sanco leaders of aligning themselves for positions in the ANC administration.
“They (Sanco leaders) cannot stand for the truth and do not represent the best interest of their constituencies. Sanco is a useless organisation. It only exists for a few comrades who use that organisation to bargain for deployment in the ANC,” said Mdluli.
Cele refuted Mdluli’s allegation that Sanco was bribed to fire Zuma.
“MK’s statement means they don’t take themselves seriously by saying anything recklessly without evidence. Why can’t they ask Zuma why he has not been attending meetings? Instead, he tried to collapse the organisation (Sanco) by not attending,” said Cele.
ANC provincial spokesperson Mafika Mndebele described MK as a joke.
“The ANC has nothing to do with this, and this has everything to do with Jacob Zuma failing in his responsibilities,” said Mndebele.
Explaining what Sanco was about, Mndebele said although it remained independent from political parties, it was important for fighting for the interests of civil society.
He said the organisation was brought into the alliance by sharing the national democratic revolution objective with alliance partners.
“Being a leader of Sanco is very important in our view because those people should have the interests of society and place the needs of our people above their own personal and narrow interests,” said Mndebele.
Sunday Tribune