Shivambu challenges Zuma: ‘I won’t resign from the MK Party – he must fire me’
Shivambu appears to be daring Zuma to remove him from the MK Party, a move that could further portray the party leader as hypocritical.
Floyd Shivambu slyly dared uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party leader Jacob Zuma to remove him from the organisation, after Zuma, the former secretary-general, took tentative steps to form a new political party.
During a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday afternoon, Shivambu announced plans to launch a nationwide consultative process, engaging with religious leaders and football club owners to assess whether South Africans are open to a new political party.
Section 5 of MK Party constitution
However, this decision to consult ahead of forming what would likely become a rival to the MK Party contradicts section 5 (membership) of the party’s constitution— a document Shivambu himself drafted under Zuma’s leadership.
“Save for highly exceptional and strategic circumstances and with the approval of the National Officials and the High Command, members of MKP are not allowed to be members of another political party, except organisations in formal alliances with the MKP,” the party’s constitution reads.
On Wednesday evening, the MK Party’s spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela distanced the party from Shivambu’s press conference, a clear sign that the party’s leadership had not given Shivambu their approval to go on his new-party consultation tour.
Probed by a journalist at the Thursday briefing about the “dual membership” conundrum, and that he may be in contravention of the MK Party’s constitution, Shivambu let the mask of cordiality slip.
‘I will never resign,’ says Shivambu
“I have not resigned from uMkhonto weSizwe,” adding that he would never resign from the party he joined 10 months ago, when he defected from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
Shivambu then reiterated the party’s stance on dual membership and the constitutional guidelines.
“If uMkhonto weSizwe [Party] believes that going to listen to the people violates the constitution, it [the party] will tell me that… ‘listening to the people is a violation of the constitution’,” Shivambu said.
“I will not resign,” Shivambu repeated, in what sounds like a “you will have to push me, but I will not jump” strategy – a tiny sign that not all is rosy between him and the octogenarian he has “tremendous respect for”.
Shivambu’s move to start a new political entity, thus making him a member of two political parties, is not dissimilar to Zuma’s own membership wrangle with the African National Congress (ANC).
As recently as January 2025, Zuma was threatening the ANC with legal action if the liberation party did not restore his membership. The former ANC president was expelled from the party in November 2025 after he was found guilty of misconduct because he started the MK Party.
If Zuma – who Shivambu described as “gullible” on Thursday – can be a member of two political parties, why can’t I? Shivambu could ask.