Jabulani Khumalo started this year as a powerful man, but he is now politically homeless.
It’s a story that has gripped the nation with the national general election now just days away.
Khumalo was unveiled – last December – as the founder of the Umkhonto Wesizwe party which became so popular that in a matter of months, it was seen as the kingmaker in KwaZulu-Natal.
When it was announced that Khumalo was working with the massively popular former president Jacob Zuma, pre-election polls predicted the party could get 23% of the KZN vote and 17% of the national vote.
But Khumalo also had a direct line for ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula and EFF leader Julius Malema who both wanted to influence the future of the MK party.
Three months into the year, Zuma caught up to Khumalo’s links to the ANC and the EFF who fooled Khumalo into making Zuma the leader of the party.
Once the IEC confirmed Zuma was the new party leader, Zuma turned on Khumalo, accused him of being an ANC spy inside the MK party, and expelled him.
And so began some urgent phone calls allegedly between Khumalo and Mbalula on the one hand and Khumalo and Malema on the other.
But of great interest was an accusation that Khumalo was to be paid around R15-million to spy on Zuma and the MK party.
This week Scrolla.Africa put the accusation to Mbalula who laughed it off and said he wondered why MK people always dragged him into the infighting between Zuma and Khumalo.
“Where would I get so much money to fund Khumalo when we still struggle to buy food for our volunteers? They even claim that I met Khumalo at uMhlanga and gave him money,” said Mbalula.
“These people are crazy. I have my fight with Zuma and it’s about the MK brand. I am still going to fight him over it.”
Khumalo’s relationship with the ANC bosses apparently fell apart when they learned he was also working with the EFF which also saw the MK party as future alliance party.
How Khumalo lost it all
Khumalo’s change of fortune started when Zuma called him to a meeting that was also attended by a man described as the “most feared taxi boss” in KZN.
In that meeting he was tricked into resigning as leader of the MK and becoming its commander-in-chief with Zuma as party president.
Zuma promised that if the MK won the elections, Khumalo would be made minister of public enterprises.
“When he came out of that meeting, he phoned certain ANC leaders who told him that he needed to go back to Zuma and tell him that he would resign as a party leader,” the source said.
But Khumalo demanded that all decisions, including those involving party funds, be reported to him.
“Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned. So, those ANC leaders introduced him to ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula,” a source told Scrolla.Africa.
“They instructed him to fire Zuma with a promise that he would get a golden handshake of over R15-million.”.
When Zuma expelled Khumalo, the ANC leaders allegedly devised another plan and told Khumalo to go to court to remove Zuma as MK’s presidential candidate.
“Unfortunately, that plan never worked because ANC leaders instructed that no further funds must be given to Khumalo because he is useless and failed the first test. He even instructed that Khumalo must be ignored because he seems to now be working with EFF leader Julius Malema,” the source said.
“That’s how a plan to use Ngizwe Mchunu, the president of the Bhinca nation, was made, which has also cost Mchunu his support base among the amaBhinca. The ANC leaders don’t want to lose Mchunu. They still want him to make a proper announcement that he is voting for the ANC.”
The source said the ANC leaders want Mchunu to accompany amaBhinca from the Gauteng hostels to attend the ANC’s Siyanqoba Rally on Saturday and endorse the party.
Khumalo couldn’t be reached for comment by the time of publication.
Pictured above: MK Party founder Jabulani Khumalo.
Image source: MK party
