MK says list does not guarantee a seat in the National Assembly

uMkhonto weSizwe Party secretary-general Sihle Ngubane says the party is yet to decide who from its candidate list would represent them in parliament should they get seats.

The party has been leading in KwaZulu-Natal since early on Thursday as voting results trickled in.

Speaking on SowetanLIVE’s election broadcast on Thursday, Ngubane said they could choose anyone on their list and the sequence of how candidates were placed on the list did not guarantee their deployment to parliament.

“MK can choose any leader within its list and tell them [the national assembly] who must be number what ... so we will dictate that to the national assembly.

“President Jacob Zuma will sit his executive and decide who the party will take to parliament or to serve the organisation.”

Just a few days before voting took place, the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, ruled that Zuma was not eligible to be an MP and would not qualify until five years had lapsed because he was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment.

Asked if the sequence would have any influence on the selection process, Ngubane said any member could be chosen, despite their position on the list.

In response to whether the sequence of the list would not create a reasonable expectation of members being selected first, Ngubane said: “No, MK members, unlike those on the ANC, know that they serve at the behest of the party.”

He said the decisions of who made it to parliament would be based on merit.

“We are driven by the ideology of the people’s manifesto, where each and every member of MK must focus on the second class starter and the third class of our citizens in terms of economic empowerment and uplifting their live.

“If any of the leaders think along those lines...those are leaders [we are going to look at]. Obviously, there are things like qualifications and fitness that will be considered.

“The main thing is that MK Party is not for the bourgeois, the rich, the first-class citizens, the capitalist agenda and the imperialists of this country. MK is for the middle class, the poor, and, especially the youth of this country.”

sibiyan@sowetan.co.za