The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) has revealed that it stands by its decision not to boycott Parliament until such time that all of its objections against the elections have been resolved by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
On Friday, following reports that the party had made a U-turn on its decision to boycott the first sitting of the National Assembly, due in a matter of 10 days, the party said its still maintained its earlier position not to take part in the first sitting of the National Assembly.
Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said the party was concerned about “mischievous” media reports suggesting that it had changed its position on the matter.
Last week, following the elections and the declaration of the official results, the MK Party, alongside 26 other political parties, accused the IEC of vote rigging and called for a recount of ballots in Mpumalanga, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
The party also called for an elections re-run, with the party saying it had volumes of evidence confirming its allegations of vote rigging by the IEC and the ANC.
“The MK Party has noted with concern some mischievous media reports suggesting that we have changed our stance regarding our decision not to attend Parliament due to the glaring election rigging by the IEC, which led to the massive theft of MK Party votes. We wish to reiterate that our position remains unchanged and that we will attend Parliament proceedings only based on the outcomes of the court proceedings,” Ndhlela said.
The party’s statement comes just after ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced that after failing to emerge with an outright majority at last week’s elections, the ANC was looking to other parties, including the EFF, IFP, NFP, DA and Patriotic Alliance, as possible partners of a government of national unity (GNU).
However, the MK Party was left out of the negotiations after it allegedly refused to meet with the ANC.
By Thursday night, the MK Party confirmed that it had agreed to meet with the ANC to begin its talks on possible participation in the talks.
This, after the MK Party announced that a meeting with the ANC was expected to take place soon.
“We commit and reaffirm to engage only in the future of South Africa which prioritises the interests of the people, especially the black majority who are poor, unemployed, homeless and landless against the interests of white monopoly capital and markets,” the party said.
On the issue of attending the first Assembly sitting, the party said while it respected the mandate of the more than 2 million voters who supported it in the elections to serve in Parliament, it would, however, not attend the first sitting until all its complaints had been attended to.
“Attending the first sitting without all our votes and voices being counted would betray our commitment to unity and democratic values where every voice and wish deserves to be heard.
“Therefore, the MK Party will only consider entering Parliament upon the conclusion of our imminent court applications, where we will present sufficient evidence demonstrating that the IEC rigged the elections to the detriment of the MK Party and other parties,” Ndhlela added.
The Star