The Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) leader and Deputy Defence Minister Kebby Maphatsoe has come out guns blazing, savaging those questioning the legitimacy of the MKMVA conference that saw him re-elected unopposed as leader.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Sunday Independent, Maphatsoe pulled no punches, also launching a blistering attack on Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, whom he accused of being factionalist and not walking the talk on his commitment to unite the ANC.
Maphatsoe was responding to accusations by the parallel structure MK national council, which held its conference at Nasrec in Joburg on October 6-8, despite the fact the ANC did not sanction the event. Among ANC luminaries at the event were Ramaphosa, Human Settlements Minister and presidential hopeful Lindiwe Sisulu, National Council of Provinces chairperson Thandi Modise and former social development minister Zola Skweyiya.
At the conference, various speakers complained about the “bogus and fraudulent” conference in June, which saw Maphatsoe being elected MKMVA president.
The conference resolved to annul what it called an illegitimate MKMVA conference and called for charges to be pressed against officials of the defence and military veterans who funded the gathering. Maphatsoe, however, slammed the MK council, saying it was on a political drive to destroy the MKMVA and ultimately the ANC.
He said challenges within MKMVA were not new. “These started in 2005, when we had two parallel MKMVs, one led by Deacon Mathe and Dumisani Khoza. The other structure was led by Pamela Daniels, who is sadly part of the MK council.”
“In 2011 when we celebrated our 50th anniversary, another structure emerged led by Alex Mashinini, who went on to form SA First.”
He accused then-deputy minister of defence and military veterans, Thabang Makwetla, who is now deputy minister of justice and correctional services, of funding that structure. “Last December, when we were celebrating our 55th anniversary, the same group emerged in a more organised fashion.”
Maphatsoe said the fact this phenomenon was replicating itself every five years was proof there were people hell-bent on destroying the MKMVA and the ANC.
Referring to the June conference which saw him re-elected, Maphatsoe said the event was recognised by the ANC which had appointed 10 of its national executive committee (NEC) members to oversee the elective process.
These, he said, included Tony Yengeni, Tito Mboweni, Lindiwe Zulu, Bheki Cele, Ayanda Dlodlo, Joel Netshitenzhe and Fikile Mbalula.
Maphatsoe said they tried in vain to get the MK council to be part of the MKMVA national congress. “On June 7, a day before the start of the conference, I received a call from comrade Mboweni, who wanted to see me. I called our treasurer, comrade Des van Rooyen, and the two of us met with comrade Mboweni at our Luthuli House offices.
“He told us that the conference could not go ahead, adding that this was a decision on the 10 members of ANC NEC appointed to oversee the conference.”
Maphatsoe said they had been taken aback and wanted to verify Mboweni’s claims with ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe.
“When we asked him to accompany us to the S-G’s office, he refused and left. We then decided to go ahead with the conference.”
Responding to claims by the MK council that a vast majority of delegates who attended the conference were not bona fide veterans, Mphatsoe said:“The Department of Defence and Military Veterans could not have funded the conference if it was not satisfied that the people attending were not part of the MKMVA.”
Maphatsoe said there was only one MKMVA. “That’s the one I lead and the only one recognised by the ANC. We have our offices on the seventh floor of Luthuli House and our secretary-general is a full-time position whose salary is paid by the ANC.” Maphatsoe said his organisation had been allocated 30 seats at the ANC policy conference while the breakaway structure had not been allocated any.
He had harsh words for Ramaphosa. “The fact that the second-in-command of our organisation went and addressed a factional structure is clear proof that he is not serious about the unity of the ANC. He goes around telling people that they want to see a united ANC, but their actions contrast their words.
“If you can’t unite a small family of MKMVA combatants, how can you succeed in uniting a gigantic organisation like the ANC? We want to see what will happen in December, whether they will accept the outcome of the conference.”
He said his and the MKMVA’s only preoccupation was the plight of military veterans. “We are working hard as a collective to change the plight of our comrades. I was in Mpumalanga recently where we met the premier and his executive.
“The province has since established a steering committee that is looking into the plight of MK vets. In Gauteng, the premier has also established the military veterans’ directorate led by vets. eThekwini metro has done the same, as has Ekurhuleni.
“We have delivered on housing. Prasa (the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa) has employed about a 100 of our comrades. In Mpumalanga there is a unit of by-law enforcement led by military vets. Our next project is the exhumation and reburial of combatants buried in various parts of the world.”
Maphatsoe became emotional when dealing with what he called lies about how he lost his right arm. He said allegations that he had deserted camp surfaced soon after he had called former public protector Thuli Madonsela a CIA agent.
“Those people making these allegations that I deserted were not there. They were eating prawns in South Africa while we were eating beans and rice in exile.”
He admitted that he had been shot by Ugandan soldiers when he and seven comrades tried to escape from the Ngoma camp in that country. He denied deserting, saying there had been challenges he and his comrades wanted to report to Shell House (the former ANC headquarters).
“It was 1991 when the armed struggle was suspended and negotiations had started. And most of our exiled comrades were already in the country. If you say I deserted camp, which enemy was I running away from because the armed struggle had been suspended and negotiations had started?” he asked.
Maphatsoe said he was being ridiculed by people who envied him to a point of jealousy. “I was elected unopposed to lead MKMVA in 2007.
“The same happened in 2012. In June this year, I was again elected unopposed. How can my comrades have so much confidence and trust in a deserter?” asked Maphatsoe, adding that he would tell the full story “when the right time comes”.
On the ANC succession battle, Maphatsoe said his organisation had taken a resolution at its conference in June to endorse former AU commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to succeed President Jacob Zuma.
He said it backed her because the country needed someone who would push for radical economic transformation and land expropriation without compensation.
“We need a leadership that will rise to the occasion and not be afraid to speak against white monopoly capital. Most importantly, we need a leader who will unite the ANC.
“We came to a conclusion that the best candidate (to achieve this) is comrade Dlamini Zuma, whose track record in our movement, the government and AU speaks for itself.”
Maphatsoe said in 2007 at the ANC’s elective conference in Polokwane that Dlamini Zuma was on former president Thabo Mbeki’s slate.
“After the conference, she respected the leadership that was elected and unlike many others who lost the leadership contest, she never left our movement.
“She is a tried and tested cadre of the ANC who will undoubtedly make a very good leader,” he said.