By Lerato Mutlanyane and Abigail Visagie
The newly elected leadership of the uMkhonto weSizwe Liberation War Veterans (MKLWV) has come out in defence of former president Thabo Mbeki’s controversial remarks about a so-called “counter-revolution”, dismissing criticism of his comments as coming from “expelled individuals or those facing disciplinary processes within the ANC”.
Speaking at the inaugural MKLWV conference in Bloemfontein over the weekend, Mbeki told delegates that counter-revolutionaries had deliberately misrepresented former president Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment and the July 2021 unrest as expressions of public anger. His remarks drew criticism from various quarters, with some accusing him of inflaming divisions in South African society.
“You have a mayhem that happened in 2021. It was said that people were angry with the ANC … because the ANC had allowed the Constitutional Court to sentence Jacob Zuma, and he was going to go to jail … that was a complete lie; it was the counter-revolutionary testing its strength to see if it could destabilise the country,” Mbeki said, adding that the narrative was “a lie, a complete lie”.
According to Mbeki, the unrest was a deliberate intervention by what he termed the “counter-revolution”, aimed at testing its capacity to destabilise and paralyse South Africa.
In response, MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela accused Mbeki of portraying MK Party support as illegitimate and externally engineered.
“This reckless language places lives at risk. The MK Party rejects, as politically reckless, socially dangerous and intellectually dishonest, the narrative advanced by former president Thabo Mbeki,” Ndhlela said.
He called on Mbeki to withdraw the statements unconditionally and apologise to the people of KwaZulu-Natal, hostel communities and MK Party supporters.
Defending Mbeki’s remarks in response to an enquiry from this publication, newly elected MKLWV chairperson Dan Hatto said the organisation fully concurred with the former president’s analysis.
“Reflections by President Mbeki have drawn responses from a political formation whose leadership includes individuals expelled or facing disciplinary processes within the ANC for conduct that undermined the organisation. Some among them have been criminally charged and convicted for cash-in-transit-related offences during the democratic period, yet continue to occupy seats in Parliament,” Hatto said.
He added that those who disputed Mbeki’s views had recourse to the courts.
“The MKLWV will not expend further organisational time responding to individuals or formations that rely on provocation rather than political substance. This statement closes our engagement on the matter,” Hatto said.
The Conference was also addressed by senior leadership of the African National Congress, including the Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, the Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula, and the National Chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, among others.
