Land issue top priority for MK Party’s Hlophe

A funeral parlour owner and a leader of an association of churches was among seven MK Party members who had to make way on the party list to parliament for the swearing-in of new MPs including impeached judge John Hlophe yesterday.

Hlophe was sworn-in as party leader in the National Assembly alongside Black First Land First party founder Andile Mngxitama, Thuthukani Khubeka, Khayelihle Madlala, Mnqobi Msezane, Khoi-San King Glen Taaibosch and Wesley Douglas.

Mngxitama, 42, was amongst the 25 founding EFF MPs when it won seats for the first time following the May 2014 general elections. He was expelled in April 2015.

The seven MK MPs were not in the original list submitted to the IEC before the March 8 deadline. They replaced expelled MK Party founder Jabulani Khumalo, Lebohang Moepeng and Rochelle Davidson.

Others replaced include Sophonia Tsekedi, a funeral parlour owner who was third on party's representatives original list to the IEC. Tsekedi, Goodwill Kgatle and Khethiso Tebe were asked to resign from the list to make way for new MPs.  Fifty-eight MK Party members were sworn in yesterday after the cohort boycotted the proceedings presided over by Judge Raymond Zondo on June 14 in Cape Town.

Notable faces on the list of 58 men and women sworn-in yesterday included party leader Jacob Zuma’s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela, former finance minister Des van Rooyen and former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebana’s husband David Skosana. 

Hlophe wasted no time in his role as newly sworn-in MP, revealing that the party’s first order of business is to fight for the amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution. The section allows for the expropriation of land without compensation. For the Constitution to be amended, a 2/3 majority of the National Assembly votes is required.

The MK Party and the EFF, who want the Constitution to be amended in favour of the expropriation of land without compensation, have a combined total seat of 97 out of the 400 members in the National Assembly. The ANC, with its 159 seats, supports the expropriation in principle but has previously voted against it in parliament. The DA, which occupies 87 seats, is outright against it. 

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony, Hlophe said: “The MK Party was founded because the ANC… has completely gone astray. This is not the ANC that we used to know, particularly over the past five years under the leadership of Cyril Ramaphosa." He said the current ANC leadership no longer fights for poor people. "We are not hooligans.

We are going to act within the law to fight for the amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution to address the issue of the land," he said. As a leader of a minority party, Hlophe is set to earn R1,507m a year while Sihle Ngubane will get R1,399m per annum as MK Party chief whip. 

Hlophe, 65, holds a PhD in law from Cambridge University in the UK, a BJuris from the University of Fort Hare and an LLB from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In February, parliament voted for his impeachment over misconduct.

This is after the Judicial Services Commission had found that he tried to influence two of 11 Constitutional Court judges to sway a ruling in Zuma’s ongoing Arms Deal trial. Hlophe’s impeachment meant he lost his over R1m a year lifetime salary and other perks.  Parties in parliament get allocated funding by the IEC in line with the Political Party Funding Act.

The funds are apportioned to the Represented Political Party’s Fund. While it is not clear how much  the parties will get this year as the IEC is yet to release this year’s political funding report, the ANC, which was the party with most seats, received over R148m between April 2022 and January 2023. The party with the least number of seats, the Minority Front, got just over R1m.