Former MKP secretary-general Floyd Shivambu claims that party president Jacob Zuma sacked him because he feared he would take over as president.
Shivambu made the allegation in a wide-ranging interview in this week’s edition of the Sunday Times’ Politics Weekly podcast, where he also said he left the EFF because it had retreated from its position on abolishing tenders.
“The leadership of the MKP was fearful I had legitimacy among the members. President Zuma said the reason for my removal was he believed I wanted to remove him as president of the MKP. Those were the words he used.”
He said this stance was in contrast with Zuma’s initial proposal when he was recruited to the party.
He said he initially refused an offer by Zuma to be the party president.
Shivambu was removed as party secretary-general in June after a trip to Malawi to meet pastor Shepherd Bushiri, a fugitive who escaped prosecution by the South African government. At the time, the party said Shivambu had left them with no option but to remove him from his position after he refused to apologise for undertaking an unsanctioned trip.
Some believed the MKP was doing me a favour by making me secretary-general. I think it’s the other way around. I was doing MKP a favour.
— Floyd Shivambu, former MKP secretary-general
Shivambu had fallen out with high-ranking MKP leaders, including Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, who attacked him on social media.
Shivambu, who defected from the EFF in August 2024, was initially appointed as the party’s national organiser and later parachuted into the secretary-general position.
Shivambu said he prevented some potential disasters to the party during his tenure, including the internal mismanagement of resources.
He said his decision to join the MKP had exposed him to a wider electorate and broadened his view on how to interact with different constituencies.
He accused some MKP members of having stolen party money.
“Some believed the MKP was doing me a favour by making me secretary-general. I think it’s the other way around. I was doing MKP a favour. I tried to institutionalise it, and I never took anything [from it]. I’d take a basic salary, but [for] the majority of the things that would be done at MKP, I’d use my own resources.
“They [were so disorganised they didn’t even buy] banners and [have] proper arrangements. I’d use my own resources to buy proper podiums and banners, and [ensure there was] order in the organisation, without ever demanding anything. Even when I travelled, domestically or internationally, I would [use] my own resources. I [never tried] to extract any resources.
“That is why [in] the Afrika Mayibuye Movement the majority of its leaders now come from MKP, and the majority of its future leaders are still going to come from MKP. I think almost everyone we got to interact with in the MKP would comfortably work with us, because they know of the consistency, the honesty we display in leadership.”
Shivambu said his reasons for leaving the EFF were in part owing to its deviation from its founding pillars. The EFF had initially advocated abolishing the tender system. However, it had since moved away from this position and now accepted that tenders must continue.
“You realise some people are submitting their companies [so they can] benefit out of tenders. That is what I was uncomfortable with — that this [process] is beginning to be shapeless. You have [various] options [with regard to] what to do in such a situation. You can wage a functional battle and say, ‘No, these people are corrupt, these people are doing wrong things’, and everything else, and try to save the organisation. [Or you can] just leave those things, because it’s not even a serious organisation.”
Shivambu protested his innocence in the VBS Mutual Bank looting scandal, from which it was alleged he and EFF president Julius Malema benefited.
In July last year, jailed former VBS chair Tshifhiwa Matodzi claimed in his testimony the EFF was paid R5m and R1m monthly “donations” to clean up the bank’s bad reputation after it had given former president Jacob Zuma a home loan for Nkandla.
Matodzi said Shivambu instructed him to pay the monies to his brother Brian Shivambu’s company, Sgameka Projects.
“I actually took a decision that I can’t over-explain myself. These people want to misunderstand whatever. I can’t dwell on that … It has nothing to do with me,” Shivambu said of the VBS scandal.
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