uMkhonto weSizwe MK Partys former National Organiser, McDonald Mathabe, has accused party leader Jacob Zuma of having poisonous hatred for President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa succeeded Zuma as African National Congress ANC President - and South Africas President - in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
Zuma has since labelled the ANC as the ANC of Ramaphosa and formed MK Party in 2023. It played a key role in dipping the ANCs share of the vote in the 2024 elections to below 50 percent.
Zumas poisonous hatred of RamaphosaSpeaking to Newzroom Afrika on Thursday 3 July, Mathabe said MK Partys initial plan was to correct the ANCs mistakes from outside with the intention of going back.
As the ANC sought coalition partners after the elections, we made the call to President Zuma that lets sit down, lets talk so that we can govern the country together, Mathabe said.
President Zuma refused. You now have a situation where the ANC is in a government of national unity GNU with unfavourable characters, he added.
The hatred of President Zuma of President Cyril Ramaphosa is poisonous. Its so bad that it has become personal and childish.
The matters are bigger than President Zumas personal hatred over President Ramaphosa. We must put the country and its people first. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
MK Party demanded Ramaphosas resignation before it could enter a coalition with the ANC, which rejected this demand outright during coalition talks last year.
Besides losing out on being part of a national coalition, MK Party was also locked out of KwaZulu-Natals provincial government despite winning the most votes in the province.