Cape Town - Hot on the heels of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s (MKP) poaching of former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, the Jacob Zuma-led party has now trained its eyes on the Western Cape.
Earlier this week, local media personality and community activist Faizal Sayed announced that he had joined the MKP, to serve as the party’s deputy Western Cape spokesperson.
Sayed had, as recently as the May 29 elections, stood as the Western Cape premier candidate for the Allied Movement For Change (AM4C) party which, when all votes were tallied, received just 5214 votes in the province.
Sayed joined the MKP after discussions with MKP Western Cape co-ordinator Faizel Moosa, South Africa’s former ambassador to Qatar.
In the statement, Moosa said: “We welcome Cde Faizal Sayed to MK Party in the Western Cape. Just like in Parliament, the MKP is attracting expertise to its core that will make it a force to be reckoned with as we move towards 2026.
“Sayed brings with him a large support base, his own expertise in the media and communications environment and his energetic personality.”
MKP provincial spokesperson Ncumisa Mahangu said the party in the Western Cape was “increasing massively”, claiming that their membership in the province had reached 200 000 members.
The party, however, has zero representation in the provincial legislature or City of Cape Town Council caucus.
Mahangu said the party would be contesting in the by-elections in ward 17 in Stellenbosch on August 28, for the first time.
“That is why we are confident we were robbed of votes… We are more than the number we had before elections. Many people joined manually and electronically, we still updated membership with the national office. Many are joining from different political formations, prominent figures and branch leaders,” said Mahangu.
On Monday night EFF leader Julius Malema sought to close ranks following the high-profile exit of Shivambu and EFF MP Mzwanele Manyi last week. The EFF in the Western Cape said it did not view the MK as a threat, but rather an ally in its bid to unseat the DA.
Aishah Cassiem, the EFF Western Cape’s Provincial Treasurer and MPL said: “Our focus in the Western Cape is to unseat the Democratic Alliance and their alliance partners and to ensure that we reduce the votes of the ‘coalition’ partners of the DA.
“We continue to grow, in all areas and have registered massive growth in most wards across the province in the 2024 election, including wards where we struggled to get votes previously.
“Cape Town was the best performing metro for the EFF in this election. The MK could help further reduce the votes of the DA and their coalition partners in the Western Cape.”
In Sayed, the MKP welcomes a previous member of the Al Jama-ah party joining in its formative years before leaving in 2009. After a 15-year break from politics, he joined AM4C.
At AM4C, in addition to being the party’s premier candidate in the Western Cape, Sayed was responsible for media and communications and formed part of the executive structure.
Sayed said many had left the AM4C, including all key leadership.
“So many of us had left for the party because we needed to join a vehicle that was moving and progressively moving, and that’s the reason why I left … for me, it was looking at another vehicle to meet the ends of which I set out personally for myself. And that was to continue fighting for the rights of people in terms of poverty and various other things.
“I have a major issue with the poor becoming poorer and it’s just an internal focus for me. I have a major issue against Zionism and the tactics of Zionism and so it was the next move, a party that’s able to deal with those things, being part of the Progressive Caucus.
“Effectively, [AM4C president Munzoor] Shaik Emam is not able to comment on the matter at the moment. He has had a heart attack recently. I have had no contact with him (since) prior to the operation.
“He still remains in hospital from what we understand, and we have no contact with him and in his interest and in his medical interest, he is not being briefed on anything that is happening outside the party.”
Stellenbosch University senior political analyst Amanda Gouws said the MKP’s popularity, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, was no exaggeration, but claims that its membership in the Western Cape had reached 200 000 were not backed up by the party’s electoral support in the province, where it received only 15 766 votes.