MK Party vows to topple ANC in upcoming municipal elections

The uMkhonto we Sizwe Party (MK Party) has challenged the African National Congress (ANC), saying it will remove the party from power in municipalities in the next elections.

Its interim parliamentary whip, Des van Rooyen, says it is not through state capture or the so-called "nine wasted years" that the country has deteriorated, but rather because of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership.

Debating the State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Parliament on Tuesday, Van Rooyen disputed Ramaphosa’s claims that the country is turning the corner after a dark five years.

The MK Party’s Des van Rooyen kicked off the debate for the main opposition party in the House, calling for free education. He says the yearly scenes of students protesting on the campuses of tertiary institutions, pleading to be let into the halls of learning, is nothing to celebrate.

"Compounding this situation, even those young people with qualifications sit at home, excluded from the economy," Van Rooyen said.

He argues that the country’s economy, its currency, and its energy supply all declined when MK Party leader and former president Jacob Zuma was removed from office in 2018.

"Because of your consistent and unfulfilled SONA promises, we will make sure that your party is severely punished during this year’s local government elections," Van Rooyen added.

Van Rooyen further argued that the Government of National Unity has done nothing to advance the country and is instead protecting its own party-political interests.