ZUMA TURNS ANC EXODUS INTO MK POWER PLAY IN KZN HEARTLAND
By Gabriel Manyati
In a sunlit ballroom at the Royal Majestic Hotel in Durban, Jacob Zuma did not just welcome defectors today. He reframed them as proof that the ANC’s old guard is quietly defecting to the only movement still speaking the language of unfinished liberation.
While headlines fixate on body counts and factional wars, Zuma used the media briefing to signal a deeper realignment: KwaZulu-Natal’s political machinery is being rebuilt around those who never truly left his orbit. Former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede, long viewed as one of his staunchest provincial allies, was formally unveiled as MK Party’s KZN deputy convenor.
“Today, we wish to announce to South Africans, to the people of KwaZulu-Natal, to the membership of the MK Party, that we are officially announcing uMama uZandile Gumede as the deputy convener of KZN,” MK secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo declared. “We welcome you, uMama, we’re giving you a very warm reception because you have unquestionable credentials in the politics of KwaZulu-Natal and in the politics of SA.”
Zuma himself cast the moment in grander terms, addressing supporters and journalists with characteristic bluntness.
“South Africans have been oppressed for a very long time,” he said. “Even though some people try to mislead them by telling them that they are free, South Africans have now realised that they are still oppressed. They understand that if they were indeed free, they would not have been suffering the way they do.”
“I’m happy that the programme to free South Africa is going very well. That’s why you see these important people now joining the campaign,” Zuma added. He later told the gathering, “Freedom day is around the corner. You are doing an extremely good job. We are about to gain our freedom. Keep on pushing.”
The event was no ordinary recruitment drive. Gumede arrived alongside other former ANC figures, including Thandiwe “Fucwana” Zungu, former deputy mayor of uMgungundlovu District. For Zuma loyalists, this is less about numbers and more about institutional memory. These are battle-hardened cadres who understand patronage networks, branch politics, and the province’s complex ethnic and regional dynamics – assets MK needs as it prepares for this year’s local government elections.
Critics will see only the familiar pattern: a party absorbing figures facing legal scrutiny (Gumede remains on trial over a major waste tender). Yet inside the briefing room, the mood was one of quiet vindication. Zuma’s message was clear – the ANC’s loss is not random attrition but a deliberate migration of those who recognise where real power is consolidating in KZN.
As the province that delivered MK its strongest national showing last year, this latest infusion suggests Zuma is methodically tightening control over structures that once formed the ANC’s backbone. The question now is whether this homecoming strengthens MK’s claim as a genuine liberation successor or simply recycles old provincial power plays under a new banner.