Mavuso Msimang. Image:Twitter@Unathi_Kwaza
Self-styled MK veterans are ‘chaotic clowns’ – ANC stalwart
Mavuso Msimang had previously said that the association, unlike other structures of the ANC, had no status and should not even have an office at ANC’s Luthuli House headquarters.
Mavuso Msimang. Image:Twitter@Unathi_Kwaza
ANC veteran Mavuso Msimang has labelled the group calling themselves uMkhonto weSizwe veterans “clowns’ who continue to cause chaos in the country.
Last week, protesters claiming to be uMkhonto we Sizwe military veterans, also known as MK Vets, with members of the People’s Revolutionary Movement in tow, shut down businesses owned by immigrants in parts of KZN, demanding they go back to their countries of origin.
The ‘MK Vets’ accused immigrants of taking jobs from South Africans and selling drugs.
‘They are not us’
Msimang though, is having none of it and was emphatic in his criticism, distancing the ANC from the self-termed ‘MK veterans.’
“They don’t belong to our uMkhonto weSizwe. They are not us. We were told a long time ago that we cease activities and in 1991, uMkhonto weSizwe as a vehicle for liberation, seized to exist when there was an agreement to form the SANDF.”
“I’m seeing some strange documents coming up that there is a new order being driven by some uMkhonto weSizwe people,” he added.
“To allow these clowns and Comrade President we will have to ask that sometimes these idiots should not be given the audience to waste time when there is so much.”
Mvuso’s sentiments were echoed by former president and current Unisa chancellor Thabo Mbeki.
“So, if we want to hear something about what MK is, what MK stands for, this is where we should come. Like him, I see people marching down our streets here wearing uniforms call themselves MK that’s not the MK he knows, and that’s not the MK I know.”
Mvuso and Mbeki were speaking after being conferred honorary doctorates by UNISA this week.
Last month, Mavuso told EWN that it was a shame that the association that was meant to be looking out for the welfare of former combatants and their families was at the heart of factional battles.
“From worrying about law enforcement allowing MKMVA members to play dress up in military fatigue to questioning why the association has an office at Luthuli House, Msimang said that it was clear the MKMVA served a certain faction in the ANC.”
No alternative to the ANC
Msimang also said there is no alternative to replace the governing party.
“Even our terrible weakened ANC, I just don’t see anybody replace it. I don’t know who would be able to run this country certainly not in the short term. So, it is absolutely important for the sake of South Africa that we do something.”
He acknowledged that the ANC is plagued by serious challenges that it needs to confront.
Last month, Mbeki’s former deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka, said the ANC needed “cleansing.”
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