The real MK Party founder vows to reclaim his party from Jacob Zuma
Jabulani Khumalo, the founder of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, remains defiant in his battle against former President Jacob Zuma, characterising the current leadership crisis as a fraudulent “hijacking” fueled by personal vendettas and financial greed.
Despite a string of recent stinging legal defeats, Khumalo insists he is the rightful leader of the organisation he registered in September 2023 and has no plans to slow down in his attempts to be reinstated.
In a candid interview with Newsday, Khumalo explained that his original vision was to create a platform for South Africans who felt unheard by the current government.
However, he alleges that the party’s trajectory changed drastically once he engaged the former President. “We were then hijacked by a man called Jacob Zuma and his daughter,” Khumalo stated.
According to Khumalo, the takeover was orchestrated through forgery and manipulation of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) processes.
He claims that while he agreed to let Zuma be the “face” of the campaign to garner votes, he never resigned his presidency.
“I wrote a letter… to IEC to say, we as the directors of the party have decided that [we] will use Zuma’s face in the ballot paper,” Khumalo explained.
However, he said that the IEC declined, noting that only party leaders can have their faces on the campaign.
He alleges that Zuma and his daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, then exploited this arrangement.
“They wrote a letter to IEC to say that I’m resigning as a party president… so that Zuma can come in,” Khumalo said, insisting, “I never said I’m resigning from the party”.
While Khumalo was second on the MK Party’s parliamentary list ahead of the elections, as soon as Zuma had that box checked, he expelled Khumalo and his allies from the party by April 2024, a month before the polls.
The dispute has played out extensively in South African courts, with Khumalo facing repeated setbacks.
In May 2024, the Electoral Court dismissed his application to invalidate Zuma’s leadership, ruling that Khumalo had been expelled from the party and therefore lacked legal standing to challenge its leadership structures.
The court noted that Khumalo failed to bring expert evidence to prove the alleged forgery of his signature.
Subsequent attempts to be reinstated as a Member of Parliament were also dismissed by the Western Cape High Court.
By October 2025, Khumalo had suffered another blow when the Constitutional Court dismissed his urgent application to reclaim the party, effectively solidifying Zuma’s control.
Despite these losses, Khumalo remains undeterred. “I can’t let go of my baby to a thief like Zuma,” he declared in the interview.
“It’s my baby. I can’t let go… to a man who doesn’t think… who can’t even lead this thing properly.”
Allegations of a feeding trough
Khumalo’s grievances extend beyond leadership titles to the financial management of the party. He accuses the current leadership of treating party coffers like their own personal piggy bank.
“Even in Parliament, people are just taking money as if is… their tuck shop because there are no controls,” he alleged, claiming funds are being diverted for Zuma’s private legal battles and lifestyle.
Former MK Party SG Floyd Shivambu 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 nine SGs.
Newsday reported how, in August 2025, the MK Party admitted to being in serious financial trouble, sitting in at least R28 million in debt, with independent auditors having findings against the party’s finances.
Khumalo agreed with this notion, claiming that “the R7 million that is being taken out… is not the only thing; there is a lot of money that is being transferred to certain individuals”.
In response, the MK Party has rejected Khumalo’s claims as ‘false, self-serving and disruptive.’
They claimed he no longer represents the party, affirming Zuma as leader, dismissing Khumalo as irrelevant, and condemning his legal challenges and statements as “misguided.”
Regarding his future legal strategy, Khumalo confirmed he is not conceding defeat.
Following the Constitutional Court’s refusal to grant direct access, he plans to approach the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
“We are waiting to get the date… and I’m pretty sure this time Zuma and his stupidity will go to the bush,” Khumalo stated.
He envisions an MK party that returns to its founding principles, free from what he describes as Zuma’s chaotic influence.
“He must leave as early as possible and die in the ANC… Not in the MK party. It’s my party,” Khumalo vowed.
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