MK Party is in serious financial trouble
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) is sitting in at least R28 million in debt, with independent auditors having findings against the party’s finances.
MKP treasurer general Mpiyakhe Limba revealed this in a recent press conference about various developments in the official opposition led by former president Jacob Zuma.
In the briefing, Limba accused the now-expelled former Secretary General of the MKP, Floyd Shivambu, for the party’s financial woes.
“He left us with a debt of R28 million. That was the mistake he made,” said Limba.
According to to the MKP treasurer, the party appointed an independent company, Nduma Chartered Accountants, before the annual audit by the Auditor General.
He said that findings were made against them, but insisted these had more to do with bookkeeping “rather than any form of corruption.” The MKP declined to divulge details of the debt.
This R28 million debt revelation follows accusations by Shivambu about money being siphoned from the organisation.
In a media briefing before he announced his ‘Mayibuye iAfrika Consultation Process,” the former MKP SG alleged that R7 million is being looted from the MKP’s coffers every month by some of its members.
Shivambu, who was the MKP’s SG for seven months after defecting from the EFF, said that the organisation’s finances are a mess.
“Withdrawals of no less than R7 million every month from the organisational coffers. We are talking about this because I have raised this internally to say, ‘stop what you are doing because you are going to get the party de-registered as a political party’,” alleged Shivambu.
“Every SG who has ever raised that got removed from the leadership of MKP,” he added. He would not give further details on the matter.
Since launching over two years ago, the MKP has had eight SGs.
Limba said that he did not want to entertain the allegations because Shivambu “was fully fully responsible for the treasurer’s office for five months.”
The MKP did not respond to further queries from Newsday.
MK Party’s funding
Tracking how the MKP gets its funding is tricky.
While it gets taxpayer funding through the Represented Political Parties Fund, a share of the Multi-Party Democracy Fund as well as membership fees, it has kept relatively tight-lipped on its donations.
The Political Funding Act requires parties to disclose donations of over R200,000 (it used to be R100,000, but Parliament amended it).
This does not mean parties comply, and excludes the requirement for disclosing below the threshold. So, parties could receive multiple donations of R199,999 from a single source, and legally not be required to disclose it.
According to the Electoral Commission’s declaration reports, the MKP has disclosed an accumulative total of R380,555 worth of donations since its founding on 16 December 2023.
This leaves question marks of where the tens of millions of rands it is in debt of came from.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that “transparency is at the heart of party-political funding. To make informed choices when voting, voters need to know who is behind the funding of political parties and what agendas they are pursuing.”
Yet, the Minister warned that loopholes and weak enforcement in the current framework continue to threaten the integrity of democratic processes.
“Challenges remain in enforcement, local transparency, and curbing illicit financing,” said Godongwana.
For example, the majority of parties have failed to submit annual audited statements over the past three years, as required by law, and the IEC is pursuing sanctions.
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Let their “daddy zuma” help them.