By Celani Sikhakhane
- Community candidate Mshengu won the right to represent the MK party after getting more votes than the leadership’s preferred choice.
- The Electoral Court backed the community’s choice against a candidate related to a party leader.
A community is angry after their chosen candidate for Thursday’s by-election nearly lost his spot to a party leader’s nephew.
The Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) party faced a crisis when two candidates appeared on campaign posters for the same ward in Msunduzi, Pietermaritzburg.
The drama started when party bosses registered Sthabiso Nkabinde as their Ward 2 candidate,
despite him getting fewer votes than community favourite Nkosinathi Mshengu. Nkabinde is the nephew of MK’s KZN Legislature leader, Thobani Zuma.
At a community meeting to pick their candidate, Mshengu won with 157 votes against Nkabinde’s 137. But things got heated when the community saw posters with Nkabinde’s face instead of Mshengu’s.
The angry community then made their own posters with Mshengu’s face, leading party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela to slam them for not following orders.
The dispute landed in the Electoral Court, which ruled in favour of the community’s choice, Mshengu.
KZN party spokesperson Vincent Mdunge said provincial leader Willies Mchunu had nothing to do with picking candidates.
“The convener in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, Honourable Mr Willies Mchunu, has acknowledged the order of the Electoral Court today, 17 December 2024.
“The Honourable Willies Mchunu has reiterated that the Court ruling emanates from court papers filed by the MKP to seek clarity from the Electoral Court to demystify the correctness of the IEC upon removing a candidate that was preferred by the community and replacing him with another candidate,” Mdunge said.
He added that the party respected the community’s democratic right to choose Mshengu, who is now officially registered with the IEC.
Mshengu will face off against the IFP’s Mbangeni Shezi and ANC’s Nduduzo Zuma in tomorrow’s by-election.
Pictured above: The Umkhonto weSizwe Party rejected the claim that Willies Mchunu imposed the candidate for the Msunduzi by-elections taking place on Wednesday.
Source: MKP
