By Celani Sikhakhane
- The party says comparing Mduduzi Shembe to fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri is wrong because Shembe has not broken any laws.
- MKP says Bushiri fled from justice while Shembe remains in the country and is still worshipped by millions.
MKP national chairperson Nathi Nhleko defended the party’s visit to Shembe during a press briefing in uMhlanga, north of Durban, on Tuesday.
He said Shembe, the leader of the eBuhleni faction, has not defied the law in the same way that Bushiri did.
“You are comparing two different things,” said Nhleko. “The Shembe Church leader has never broken any law. Bushiri is a fugitive. A Malawian magistrate even granted South Africa the right to extradite him so he can face trial.”
In 2016, a court ruled that Mduduzi Shembe should hand over leadership of the church to Vela Shembe from the Thembezinhle faction. But Mduduzi Shembe rejected the decision and refused to step down.
He kept his position, and millions of followers have continued to support him. In 2021, his followers protested in the streets of Durban, saying the court had no right to choose their spiritual leader.
Mduduzi Shembe appealed the ruling several times. He lost in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, then again at the Supreme Court of Appeal, and finally at the Constitutional Court. All courts upheld that Vela Shembe is the rightful leader.
Despite this, MKP members, including Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, visited Mduduzi Shembe. The party insists it was not illegal or wrong.
Nhleko’s statement came shortly after the party removed its Secretary-General, Floyd Shivambu. Shivambu was found guilty of breaking MKP’s rules by visiting Bushiri’s church in Malawi over Easter.
MKP says visiting Bushiri was unacceptable because he is on the run from South African justice.
But visiting Shembe, who has never left the country or avoided the law, is a different matter.
Pictured above: MKP member of Parliament Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla during her visit to the leader of the Shembe Church, Mduduzi Nyazilwezulu Shembe, who is accused of disrespecting the court ruling that dethroned him as the leader of the church.
Image source: MKP
