Former President Thabo Mbeki on Saturday made comments about alleged links between the MK party’s support and apartheid-era infiltration.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) has accused former state president Thabo Mbeki of “reckless utterances”.
Mbeki was speaking at the inaugural uMkhonto weSizwe Liberation War Veterans (MKLWV) conference, where he revisited the past in addressing forces he believed were working against the ANC.
The two bodies have been engaged in a battle over the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) identity for several years, with the MKMVA claiming to represent all struggle veterans, not the ANC-aligned MKLWV.
MK infiltration
Mbeki gave his keynote address at the conference on Saturday at a resort near Bloemfontein.
He described how pre-1994 townships and rural villages were allegedly infiltrated by security branch personnel and other apartheid government intelligence bodies.
Mbeki said that was the primary tactic of control that could be “activated in defence of the apartheid system” at short notice.
He said the MK party’s current support was the legacy of that infiltration, stating that IFP members in Gauteng in the early nineties were part of that infiltration.
Referencing the July 2021 riots, he labelled the driving force of the unrest as the ‘counter-revolution”, stating that it was attempting to “test its strength” to “paralyse South Africa for its own purposes”.
The former president said the unrest showed “the democratic state, including the police, had no capacity” to defend the country due to the well-organised nature of the forces behind the scenes.
“But what happened in 2024? They all abandoned the IFP and went with the MK party. Why?
“It is because they are controlled by the same person. It is the same person who controlled them when they were IFP hostels, and is the same person as the MK party hostels.
“Comrades, that’s the counterrevolution, and that is how it works,” said Mbeki.
‘Mbeki never cared’ for soldiers
MKMVA President and MK party member of parliament Pumlani Kubukeli said on Sunday that he was “deeply disturbed” by the comments.
“He is insinuating that members of the MK party are former apartheid spies or apartheid intelligence agents who have been reactivated.
“Any analytic mind can read between the lines that he is referring to the MK party President. In other words, the above statement is a blatant call for the assassination of the MK party President,” stated Kubukeli.
The MKMVA president accused Mbeki of having a “hatred” for MK party president Jacob Zuma, but that MK party members should not be baited into a violent reaction to the comments.
“President Mbeki never cared for the plight of MK soldiers, both in exile and in South Africa, while his nemesis, former President Zuma, formed the Department of Military Veterans.
“As MKMVA, we still maintain our stance of representing all former MK military veterans regardless of their political affiliation.
“This we said, is primarily because the politicians who have never cared for our plight, pitied us against each other, and rallied us around their factionalism,” Kubukeli stated.
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