‘You have not abandoned me,’ Maphisa-Nqakula tells uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association

Former parliamentary speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Thursday thanked the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) for allowing her to speak at a public ANC event for the first time since her arrest last year.

By being criminally charged, Mapisa-Nqakula was subjected to the ANC’s step-aside rule, which prohibits party members from speaking at any of its public gatherings, attending rallies and public meetings or holding any government position.

She is facing 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering for receiving R2.5 million from December 2016 to July 2019 from a former South African National Defence Force contractor, Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu. This occurred during her nine-year tenure as defence minister, which ended in 2021.

She was speaking in Gauteng at the memorial lecture of Gertrude Shope — struggle stalwart, member of parliament and the first president of the ANC Women’s League after it was relaunched in 1990 — on behalf of the veteran’s association.

Mapisa-Nqakula said: “I want to thank you for that because you have not abandoned me, and at least you haven’t judged me.” 

She also expressed her disappointment at some ANC leaders who left the party to join the uMkhonto (MK) weSizwe party led by former ANC president Jacob Zuma.

Mapisa-Nqakula said she was “very sad” to see that some of her comrades had decided to join the MK party, including one of her commanders in uMkhoto weSizwe, the military wing of the ANC during apartheid.

“I’m concerned; my view is that comrades, not everybody is there because they want to be there,” she said. 

“There are generals there; don’t give up on the many comrades who have gone to the MK party because they don’t belong there; uMkhonto is here in the ANC.”

Despite her problems in the ANC, she vowed to remain a member until her death. 

“Even in my house, they know, Comrade SG [party secretary general Fikile Mbalula], you will bury me, and on my coffin will be green, black and gold.

“Whatever I may be, my coffin must be draped in green, black and gold. I fought for this country, and I fought because I believe in what the ANC stands for.”

Mbalula warned ANC members not to focus on those who have left the party and joined the MK party, accusing them of being people who “don’t exist and who stole our thing”. 

The MK party takes its name from the now-disbanded armed wing of the ANC, which had also accused the MK party of copyright infringement.

Last year in March, the ANC failed in a legal bid to stop the MK party from contesting the 24 May elections after it argued that Zuma’s party had not met the official registration criteria. This was dismissed by the electoral court but the ANC was granted an appeal. 

Mbalula said the more the ANC speaks about the MK party, the more they build it. 

“Let’s talk about what we do; uMkhonto weSizwe is not dead; it’s still alive; let it show that it’s alive. We must fix what needs to be fixed for war veterans of our uMkhonto weSizwe.”

He said those people who had left the ANC to join the MK party would soon regret their decision.

“Let it be clear that we are leading the government, and we are not being led. Let it be clear that we are leading to improve the lives of our war veterans.”

The ANC received 16.99% of the votes in KwaZulu-Natal in the 2024 elections, down from 54.22% in the 2019 general elections. Because of Zuma’s popularity and support from traditional ANC voters, the MK party scored 45.35% of the vote in KwaZulu-Natal.

ANC Veterans League deputy president Mavuso Msimang said it was hurtful to see the party drop from 54% to 17%, saying this had everything to do with what his party had neglected.

“That quantity moved across to form this thing, Zuma’s party. Why did we allow this thing to be formed?”, stating also that the MK name should not be associated with the likes of Zuma.

The veterans league and MKMVA are separate organisations.

ANC Women’s League president Sisisi Tolashe also indirectly condemned Zuma’s party, saying it is the generation that never went into exile yet they wear military-style outfits, which “insult and spit on the graves of real fighters” who gave their lives. 

“Today we have to bear with liars, people who are not thankful, and today we are being insulted and called names because there are people who thought this movement was for them and their children.”