POLITRICKING | Patrick Sindane and Mary Phadi speculate about Shivambu’s future in Umkhonto weSizwe Party

While some wait with bated breath to see if indeed former Umkhonto weSizwe Party secretary general Floyd Shivambu, will take up a seat on the opposition benches in the coming days, others say parliament is small time and that he would be better suited establishing and leading his own political outfit.

This as the dust settles following an announcement by the MKP last week that he would no longer serve as the engine of the organisation but become one of its MPs, a decision which was welcomed by the likes of Mpumalanga’s Mary Phadi but rejected by those who followed Shivambu from the EFF to the MKP like Patrick Sindane.

As it stands, no one is certain of Shivambu’s next move, with party insiders claiming his name is not on the list set to be submitted in a bid to replenish the organisation’s seats in parliament.

If he does go, he faces a mammoth task of not only being a backbencher, serving under both Dr John Hlope, who is the deputy president of the organisation and the caucus leader as well as Colleen Makhubele, a rising star in the party, who since her arrival in February has shot up to becoming its chief whip but he will no doubt receive a cold welcome from the EFF, which he served as an MP, until he quit the party in August last year.

Some have suggested he must join the many disgruntled politicians who have established their own political parties, by launching his own organisation. If he goes this route, he will join others, who were left out in the cold by the MKP and have taken to registering a new party to rival that of former President Jacob Zuma.

EWN’s Politricking with Tshidi Madia, spoke to both Phadi and Sindane as they make sense of the latest development in the MKP.

Shivambu was the organisation’s sixth secretary general, in the 18 months since it was launched.

“Floyd has no one to blame but himself,” said Phadi.

The businesswoman, who has had a series of run-ins with Shivambu and believes she was being targeted by him, said she’s “excited” and “happy” seeing him removed from the secretariat of the party.

She described an induvial lacking warmth, who had also reached a series of conclusions about her role in the party, in Mpumalanga, without seeking evidence to corroborate some of the claims and rumours that had been peddled about her.

For Phadi, Shivambu, bought into the “propaganda,” around her name.

“He ended up piloting things he shouldn’t have been involved in, when you come in as a secretary general, in any organisation, you first engage with the people that are running those provinces and he decided not to go that route, decided to write two letters removing me from the legislature, for no reason… I don’t know him and he decided to do that,” she said.

“He was surely destabilising the ground,” she added.

This also saw Shivambu isolated and not getting invited to meetings held by the party in the province.

Phadi also echoed sentiments expressed across some pockets of the party, which believe Shivambu used his quick rise in the MKP to award those who followed him from the EFF to the party.

“It was very clear he had his own people, most of the people he thought about were former members of the EFF, which is worrying to us,” she said of an observation made regarding the removal of some of the key founding MKP members in Mpumalanga.

This for Phadi extended to impeached public protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, her arch nemesis, with the two at loggerheads over who is the real convener of the MKP in the province on the eastern parts of the country.

Phadi’s even suggested the former public protector should also be redeployed, suggesting the MKP must start a legal office, to place Mkhwebane as she “doesn’t belong on the ground.”

The Mpumalanga businesswoman and politician defended Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla  who has had public spats with Shivambu claiming she doesn’t believe Shivambu’s fate is tied to the president of the party’s daughter.

Hers is a departure from the views of Sindane – who boldly labelled Shivambu’s new appointed a demotion on social media last week.

Sindane, who quit the MKP with immediate effect, said the development was a victory for the young Zuma.

“Duduzeile has won… if Duduzile wants to lead, of which there’s nothing wrong with it, she must not lead it through the backdoor, that its i’party ya se khaya le [its our family’s organisation], and the attitude she’s displaying now, you can see from a distance, you don’t even have to be a member of the MKP,” he said.

For Sindane, former president Jacob Zuma needed to call his daughter to order, with the disciplinary action against her, expected to be finalised.

The former MKP member insisted the organisation missed an opportunity to put to bed rumours that the party is a family project.

He does however credit Shivambu, without properly substantiating his point, for the growth of the organisation outside of KZN, this too hasn’t been properly tested at the polls since the 2024 general elections, despite some small victories in by-elections.

Sindane believes Shivambu is simply too big to go be a backbencher.

“Politically, for a man who has a very rich track record when it comes to leadership, he should be knowing wherever he is, that this is some way of undermining him… for you to leave party like the EFF as a deputy president, join MK and then you are made a national organiser, quickly moved to secretary general then quickly removed and deployed to parliament and then its called strategic… clearly he understands politics,” he says.

“I don think its wise for him to go to parliament,” continues Sindane.

He says the natural order should have been higher, that the next natural step would have been appointing Shivambu as the deputy president of the MKP.

Sindane, suggested that part of the conflict was linked to succession talks, pouring water on rumours that Shivambu attempted to lead a coup. He insisted what happens next is an important conversation for the MKP to deliberate on.

The politician who is currently without a political home but suggests he will find one in the coming weeks, also spoke of the suggested isolation Shivambu apparently experienced, confirming that even at a lower level, as a former EFF member he experienced it too.

I would personally be deployed, to assist with by-elections in the West Rand, when you arrive, people who don’t even understand your politics say he’s here, he wants to take our positions, wants to be a councillor in the West Rand, but its by-elections, we are here to help you,” he said.

Sindane said often this would lead to urgent meetings, riddled with conspiracy theories, all linked to a belief that the EFF is there to take over the MKP.

“Everyone is talking about 2026, say it’s our turn now, they had their opportunity in the EFF and now want to disrupt us, we formed this organisation without them, they must go back to where they came from,” he said.

For Sindane, the recent happenings, all signal a path to continued instability for the party. He said Shivambu joining felt like an answer to some of the issues previously raised about the organisation, claiming the latest development shows the MKP is not interested in how voters perceive the organisation.