UMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans' Association | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | MKMVA |
| President | Kebby Maphatsoe |
| Spokesperson | Carl Niehaus |
| Founded | December 1996 (1996-12) |
| Dissolved | June 2021 (officially) |
| Succeeded by | UMkhonto we Sizwe Liberation War Veterans |
| Headquarters | Luthuli House 54 Sauer Street Johannesburg Gauteng |
TheuMkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans' Association (MKMVA) was an auxiliary political organisation affiliated to South Africa'sAfrican National Congress (ANC). It was founded in 1996 to represent the interests of individuals who had participated in the armedstruggle againstapartheid as members ofUmkhonto weSizwe (MK), the ANC's armed wing. Although its relationship to the ANC and MK was not formally or legally codified, the organisation received a degree ofde facto recognition both from the ANC and from the ANC-ledgovernment.
The status of its authority became increasingly controversial during thepresidency ofJacob Zuma, as MKMVA became an increasingly visible participant in pro-Zuma political agitation. Critics, including a rival veterans' organisation called the MK National Council, condemned MKMVA for its intimacy with the controversialGupta family and for presenting itself as aparamilitary force aligned to Zuma. They also alleged that MKMVA had become bloated with individuals who had not genuinely served in MK before it was disbanded during South Africa'stransition to democracy.
UnderCyril Ramaphosa, who succeeded Zuma as ANC president, the ANC instructed MKMVA to disband in June 2021. MKMVA leaders refused to do so and actively opposedZuma's arrest in June 2021. However, in late April 2022, a joint conference for MK veterans, organised by the ANC, decided that MKMVA and its rivals would be replaced by a single veterans' organisation, to be named the MK Liberation War Veterans.
Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) was the armed wing of theAfrican National Congress (ANC) duringapartheid. After being banned by the South African government in 1960, both the ANC and MK operated primarily inexile elsewhere inSouthern Africa, where large numbers of young South Africans received military training to conduct armed struggle against the apartheid government – primarilysabotage operations, but also some attemptedguerrilla operations andbombing campaigns. MK was disbanded during thetransition to democracy in South Africa and was defunct by the time of thefirst democratic elections in 1994.[1][2] In the post-apartheid order, former MK combatants, as well as former members of the apartheid-eraSouth African Defence Force, were recognised asveterans of the liberation struggle, including under theMilitary Veterans Act of 2011. The MK Military Veterans' Association (MKMVA) was established in December 1996 to represent the interests of former MK veterans, both inside the ANC and in dealings with the ANC-ledgovernment of South Africa.[3]
The MKMVA constitution defined MK veterans as individuals who joined MK before the suspension of the armed struggle in 1990 and who neverdeserted its ranks.[3] Specific objectives included obtainingsocial security assistance for elderly and disabled veterans and for the dependants of deceased veterans, supporting thereintegration of veterans, and promoting MK's history and heritage.[3] MKMVA also held and administered investments on behalf of its members, including a farm inDoornkuil, Western Cape, which the ANC donated to it.[3]
Like the ANC itself, MKMVA operated in an organisational hierarchy with offices and leadership corps at the local (branch),provincial, and national levels.[3] Also like the ANC, its top national leadership comprised a national executive committee, including the "Top Six" leaders. Until 2017, the head of the organisation was the MKMVA chairperson;[3] at the 5th MKMVA National Conference in 2017 (which was to be the organisation's final national meeting), attendees re-elected the incumbent chairperson,Kebby Maphatsoe, but resolved to change his title to "president".[1]
Because it was composed of former MK members, many of whom were still ANC members, MKMVA was affiliated to the ANC. However, it was not mentioned in the ANC constitution and did not have any formal authority in ANC decision-making or official status in the organisation;[2] in this, it differed from the ANC's three official leagues, including theANC Veterans' League (which is not limited to MK combatants). However, MKMVA leaders claimed that it retained significant influence over ANC decisions, because many of its members were independently elected to leadership positions in ANC local or provincial branches.[4] MKMVA was also granted office space in the ANC's provincial offices,[3] and as of 2019 it had its nationalheadquarters inLuthuli House, the ANC'sJohannesburg headquarters.[5]
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In 2017, a rival organisation for MK veterans was founded under the leadership of ANC stalwarts includingSiphiwe Nyanda.[6] The group, named the MK National Council, was founded in opposition to MKMVA's outspoken support forJacob Zuma, then ANC president andnational president (and a former MK member himself); MKMVA had also endorsed Zuma's ex-wife,Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to succeed Zuma as ANC president at the end of his term in 2017.[4] According to the MK National Council, MKMVA's narrow political agenda left it unable adequately to represent all MK veterans.[5][6] In subsequent years, the relationship between the organisations became increasingly acrimonious, in particular as MKMVA claimed for itself the right to be viewed as the exclusive legitimate representative of MK veterans.[6]
In 2017, at its54th National Conference, which also electedCyril Ramaphosa to succeed Zuma, the ANC resolved that the ANCNational Executive Committee (NEC) should lead an inclusive process to unify all MK ex-combatants.[6] In line with this resolution, the NEC launched unity talks between representatives of the different groups, alongside a process intended to verify whether MKMVA members were legitimate veterans(seebelow). However, the MK National Council withdrew from the talks in 2020, claiming that their convenor,Tony Yengeni of the NEC, was biased towards Zuma and MKMVA – while MKMVA argued that the NEC's Top Six leaders were themselves biased towards the MK National Council.[6] MKMVA remained a staunch opponent of Ramaphosa in this period and continued to support the Zuma-alignedRadical Economic Transformation faction of the ANC. It also spoke out in defence of ANCSecretary-GeneralAce Magashule, implying that his suspension from the ANC under thestep-aside rule had been politically motivated.[6]
In June 2021, theNational Working Committee of the ANC NEC announced that it would disband both MKMVA and MK National Council. It would then begin preparations for an inclusive conference of MK veterans aimed at uniting the groups.[6][7] While MK National Council said that it would comply with the decision, MKMVA vowed to defy it, saying in a statement:
We will not be disrespected, nor will we bow to adictatorship. The members of MKMVA, and MKMVA as a legitimate constitutional entity, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect... Under the circumstances, MKMVA is left with no other option but to state categorically that we will not disband. MKMVA will continue with our programmes and the National Executive Committee of MKMVA will continue to carry out our mandate.[6]
Though officially disbanded, MKMVA continued to present itself as an active organisation, and continued to stage pro-Zuma protests as late as July 2021(seebelow).[8] However, in late April 2022, the ANC and the government'sDepartment of Military Veterans convened the envisioned joint conference, which brought together 570 people, including MKMVA members, MK National Council members, and unaffiliated MK veterans.[9][10] Although some attendees left the conference in protest,[11] a majority of those present decided to unify all MK veterans under a new organisation, with a new "unity name", MK Liberation War Veterans.[9] The conference was addressed by President Ramaphosa and by his deputy,David Mabuza, whom he had charged with overseeing the verification and unification of MK veterans.[9] The conference adopted an interim constitution,[9] and an interim leadership corps was appointed in late May.[12]
Critics frequently pointed out that many of MKMVA's members, or people present at MKMVA events or in MKMVAcombat uniform, were "too young to have played any meaningful role in the armed struggle against apartheid" or to have belonged to MK before it was disbanded.[2][13] The MK National Council frequently made this argument, and additionally argued that Maphatsoe's reelection as leader in 2017 wasfraudulent because the vote had not been limited tobona fide veterans.[6] Sources told theAfrica Report that MKMVA sought statewelfare benefits, designated for military veterans, for all its members, even those too young to plausibly have been in MK.[13] There was particular public controversy about the case ofCarl Niehaus, an MKMVAspokesman and prominent member of the group's national executive; an ANCvetting process found that Niehaus had not been an MK member.[9][14][15]Ronnie Kasrils andMavuso Msimang, among others, claimed that Maphatsoe himself had deserted his MK camp,[16][17] which would have ruled him out as a veteran in terms of MKMVA's own constitution.
MKMVA's critics alleged that MKMVA frequently threatened, and occasionally committed, acts ofpolitical violence. In the organisation's final decade, it increasingly volunteered, apparently in an informal capacity, to act as security for the ANC and its leadership, and its threats were frequently directed at Zuma's critics.[2] In 2009, MKMVA deputy secretary-general Ramatuku Maphutha mounted an infamous defence of Zuma, then a presidential candidate inthe national elections, during his prosecutionon corruption charges. Maphutha said:
Soldiers [from MKMVA] are deployed all over the country and are waiting to be activated from the trenches to fight theNational Prosecuting Authority if they fail to drop charges against Zuma. We will not hesitate to take him by force to theUnion Buildings. No Jacob Zuma, no country. He is the president for the next 10 years.[1]
In March 2012, theANC Youth League reacted with vitriol to a statement of MKMVA'sKwaZulu-Natal branch which expressed the view that, "If it was still thestruggle era,Julius Malema would have been killed by thefiring squad for the way in which he was rude to the ANC leadership".[18] The Youth League said that the statementincited violence against Malema, a critic of Zuma who had recently been expelled from the ANC.[18] In July of that year, Youth League members inLimpopo clashed violently with a group of what they called "hooligans... wearing MKMVA combat [gear]".[19] The clashes took place outside a church where Zuma was speaking, and Youth League provincial leaders claimed that theassault had been planned in advance.[19] In another example, in 2016, MKMVA members took it upon themselves to "provide security" to the ANC headquarters at Luthuli House, during a protest by young ANC members calling themselves the #OccupyLuthuliHouse movement. In attempting to block the protestors and media from Luthuli House, MKMVA members pushed, shoved, and verbally harassed them.[2]
Maphatsoe said that Zuma had given MKMVA "battle orders" at the 2012 MKMVA national conference: "one of those orders was to protect the black, green and gold [ANC colours] at all costs. We are implementing those instructions by the president, at all times military veterans will be at the forefront of the defending the ANC and its leadership."[1] The culmination of this trend was MKMVA's resolution, at its 2017 national conference, that its members should be permitted to guard the country'snational key points.[20] Siphiwe Nyanda said that the group presented itself, illegitimately, as a "private army",[21][22] andR. W. Johnson described it as "a private army for hire".[23]
In February 2021, as Zuma defied aConstitutional Court order in failing to appear before theZondo Commission, MKMVA members gathered outside Zuma'sNkandla homestead in KwaZulu-Natal, saying that they intended to protect Zuma from arrest.[6][24] They also tried to preventBheki Cele, the South AfricanMinister of Police, from entering the residence for a meeting with Zuma.[13] Several dozen MKMVA members remained stationed there in March. Niehaus, MKMVA's spokesman, said that the attempt to force Zuma to testify to the commission was part of an "insidiousfactional political project" and warned that any attempt to arrest Zuma "will lead to massive instability, that will not be in the interest of our country".[13]Frank Chikane described it as an unlawful gathering of amilitia, saying "We are not talking about military veterans. There are no military veterans that will violate the law of any country".[13]Blade Nzimande also characterised it as "militia" activity, and warned that, "No democracy can leave unattended the threats for acoup orcivil war made from within such quarters".[13]
On 29 June, Zuma – still holed up at Nkandla – was sentenced to 15 months'imprisonment forcontempt of court, and given a week to hand himself in to the police. MKMVA – which had been ordered to disband the month before – again gathered outside the Nkandla homestead, and Niehaus said that they would "protect" Zuma, whom he described as MKMVA's "patron-in-chief", from arrest.[25] Although Zuma handed himself over peacefully, there waslarge-scale civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal the following week; Niehaus said, "What is happening is a vindication of what we warned would happen. We know there is a huge support base for Zuma which was going to be very angry because of this and that is exactly what is happening".[26]
Provincial branches of MKMVA in KwaZulu-Natal andGauteng were reportedly involved inxenophobic violence. In September 2020, MKMVA groups in KwaZulu-Natal participated in what they touted as a "shutdown" of the province, involving protests – coordinated with other groups including truck andtaxi drivers – whose demands included thedeportation of foreigners.[27] In November of that year, a group calling itself the MKMVA Freedom Fighters forcibly shut down foreign-owned businesses in and around the Workshop shopping centre inDurban, effectively evicting foreign traders from the area.[28][29] Over subsequent months, sporadic attacks on migrant traders continued,[29] with observers implicating apparent MKMVA members.[30] On 8 March 2021, a series of attacks on Durban's Victoria Street saw foreign-owned shopsvandalised andpetrol bombed, and their owners assaulted.[29] Witnesses said that the attacks were perpetrated by around ten men who purported to be MKMVA members, but the provincial chairperson of MKMVA said that the organisation was "not part of that and not endorsing that".[31] The attacks led theNew Frame to warn in aneditorial of MKMVA's growing links topopulist and violent xenophobic politics.[32] In 2022, MKMVA members were frequently seen at marches organised by the xenophobic quasi-militaryOperation Dudula,[33] and theDaily Maverick counted MKMVA as among the groups that provided the campaign with "muscle".[34]
In 2012, theMail & Guardian reported that aforensic investigation – commissioned by a group of MK veterans within the mainstream ANC leadership – had found evidence that MKMVA leaders, including Maphatsoe, pilfered funds from MKMVA investment holdings to make personal payments.[35] The investigation concerned two MKMVA bank accounts, which received a cumulative income of R12 million between October 2005 and June 2011; according to the investigation, top leaders had withdrawn R5.4 million over the same period, and in many cases had used the money to purchase personal luxuries.[35] The report was the culmination of longstanding "suspicions of financial malfeasance", and was followed by a court battle when the implicated leaders were sued by other veterans.[35] At least one veteran, Eddie Mokhoanatse, was expelled from MKMVA for his involvement in the lawsuit, which MKMVA said damaged the ANC's reputation.[36]
DuringZuma's presidency, when the notoriousGupta family was accused of attempting tocapture the South African state, MKMVA leaders defended the Guptas, as well as Zuma, in the press; Maphatsoe in particular described the Guptas as "friends of MKMVA" and promised to defend them from attack, which he suggested was motivated byracism.[4] This relationship led to suspicion of a basis in a dubiousquid pro quo.[4][2] In 2012, theMail & Guardian reported that MKMVA had received shares in a Gupta-ownedmining company, Shiva Uranium, through a stake in one of the mine'sshareholders, Islandsite Investments, which was co-owned byDuduzane Zuma and Rajesh Gupta.[37] Maphatsoe admitted that the Guptas had given MKMVA shares worth R250 million, "for the benefit of our members", but denied that any MKMVA leaders benefitted personally from the relationship.[37] The so-calledGupta Leaks later confirmed that the transaction had taken place in 2011.[4]
In 2017,amaBhungane reported that the Gupta Leaks also showed that the Gupta family had paid the R850,000 bill for MKMVA's 2010 national general council meeting inJohannesburg, including the price of the conference facilities, accommodation, food, and a gala dinner.[4] Niehaus, a member of the MKMVA national executive, questioned the legitimacy of the leaks, but Maphatsoe acknowledged that the Guptas had paid for the conference by donation, saying, "It's not a crime to be assisted. It's notcorruption there."[4] TheDaily Maverick said that MKMVA was "a direct beneficiary of state capture",[6] and Mokhoanatse (by then expelled from MKMVA) alleged that MKMVA was "captured" by the Guptas and took instructions from them.[4] The Gupta Leaks also suggested that MKMVA received media assistance from the Guptas' Britishpublic relations firm,Bell Pottinger;[6][4] Maphatsoe himself referred often to "white monopoly capital", a slogan devised by Bell Pottinger.[37][13]
