Expelled MK Party members have accused the party’s parliamentary leadership of fraud and failure to follow due processes in booting them out of the party.
The former MPs have approached the high court in Cape Town to fight their removal and to stop parliament from filling their parliamentary seats pending the court process.
“To date none of us has received any expulsion letters from the party or signed resignation letters from the party and [if] such documents exist, we believe they may have been forged,” said Thami Khuzwayo, one of the affected MPs.
He was reading a statement on behalf of 10 of the expelled MPs during a press conference in Cape Town. He said they were not rebelling against the party but were seeking justice through the courts because attempts to do so through organisational processes had failed.
Khuzwayo said they first heard of their expulsion from parliament before it was communicated to them by their party.
He said he received a letter from National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza informing him that the MK Party had communicated his resignation from the party with her office. He denies resigning from the party or parliament.
“The speaker sent us letters notifying us of a correspondence from the chief whip saying we have lost membership of the party and by virtue of that, we can’t represent the party in parliament,” said Khuzwayo. “There was no procedure. Nothing was communicated to us, not a letter and not even a verbal warning. We just received the letter from the speaker.
“We want to understand the process and why was it hidden from us. We are not going to sit back and fold our arms. We are going to fight fire with fire until our dignity and our right to dignity are achieved.”
The expelled MPs accuse party chief whip Sihle Ngubane, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla and national spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela of manipulating the party for personal gain.
Khuzwayo said Ngubane wrote to the secretary of parliament (National Assembly) on July 5 about their “expulsion” and “resignations”, but in August, he deployed some of them to do constituency work in provinces.
“If we had been expelled and some of us had resigned in July, why were we being deployed to provinces to do constituency work in August?
“I was in the Free State for a week doing constituency work as an MP deployed by the MK Party through its chief whip. I am telling you these guys are cronies; they are not honest people, and we are not going to take it lying down.”
Khuzwayo said they made significant personal sacrifices, including resigning from permanent employment based on expectations of serving a full five-year term in parliament.
“The abrupt termination of our positions undermines our livelihoods and responsibilities as parents, household heads and breadwinners.”
He denied that they were part of an arrangement which would see them occupying their seats for a short period before making way for others.
He accused Ndhlela of misleading the country in that regard.
“We never imagined that at some point we would be here but we are forced by the circumstances.
“We have played a crucial role in the building of the party, in whatever capacity that we could ... we are not going to accept abuse from a few individuals who do not want to see this organisation and this country going forward.”
Ngubane was not available for comment at the time of publishing.
TimesLIVE
Expelled MK Party MPs vow to fight back: 'we will fight fire with fire'
'Nothing was communicated to us, not a letter and not even a verbal warning'
Political correspondent
Image: Freddy Mavunda
Expelled MK Party members have accused the party’s parliamentary leadership of fraud and failure to follow due processes in booting them out of the party.
The former MPs have approached the high court in Cape Town to fight their removal and to stop parliament from filling their parliamentary seats pending the court process.
“To date none of us has received any expulsion letters from the party or signed resignation letters from the party and [if] such documents exist, we believe they may have been forged,” said Thami Khuzwayo, one of the affected MPs.
He was reading a statement on behalf of 10 of the expelled MPs during a press conference in Cape Town. He said they were not rebelling against the party but were seeking justice through the courts because attempts to do so through organisational processes had failed.
Khuzwayo said they first heard of their expulsion from parliament before it was communicated to them by their party.
He said he received a letter from National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza informing him that the MK Party had communicated his resignation from the party with her office. He denies resigning from the party or parliament.
“The speaker sent us letters notifying us of a correspondence from the chief whip saying we have lost membership of the party and by virtue of that, we can’t represent the party in parliament,” said Khuzwayo. “There was no procedure. Nothing was communicated to us, not a letter and not even a verbal warning. We just received the letter from the speaker.
“We want to understand the process and why was it hidden from us. We are not going to sit back and fold our arms. We are going to fight fire with fire until our dignity and our right to dignity are achieved.”
The expelled MPs accuse party chief whip Sihle Ngubane, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla and national spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela of manipulating the party for personal gain.
Khuzwayo said Ngubane wrote to the secretary of parliament (National Assembly) on July 5 about their “expulsion” and “resignations”, but in August, he deployed some of them to do constituency work in provinces.
“If we had been expelled and some of us had resigned in July, why were we being deployed to provinces to do constituency work in August?
“I was in the Free State for a week doing constituency work as an MP deployed by the MK Party through its chief whip. I am telling you these guys are cronies; they are not honest people, and we are not going to take it lying down.”
Khuzwayo said they made significant personal sacrifices, including resigning from permanent employment based on expectations of serving a full five-year term in parliament.
“The abrupt termination of our positions undermines our livelihoods and responsibilities as parents, household heads and breadwinners.”
He denied that they were part of an arrangement which would see them occupying their seats for a short period before making way for others.
He accused Ndhlela of misleading the country in that regard.
“We never imagined that at some point we would be here but we are forced by the circumstances.
“We have played a crucial role in the building of the party, in whatever capacity that we could ... we are not going to accept abuse from a few individuals who do not want to see this organisation and this country going forward.”
Ngubane was not available for comment at the time of publishing.
TimesLIVE
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