By Anita Dangazele
Among its many pre-election problems, the Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party has now ruffled the feathers of Eastern Cape taxi bosses.
The party allegedly failed to pay taxi drivers to transport members who were meant to attend an election rally earlier this month.
MK leader Jacob Zuma was meant to address supporters at the rally at the NU2 stadium in Motherwell, Gqeberha.
But the rally ended before it started because Zuma failed to show up, disappointing many supporters who had travelled from all corners of the province to attend.
Supporters were left in the dark, with many questioning where the food was for the rally and who would pay for the taxis that took them to the venue.
Weeks later, that question came up again, with taxi bosses demanding payment for transporting the party’s members to the failed rally.
In a leaked WhatsApp message, MK’s Eastern Cape convenor, Phumlani Kubukeli, urged the party leaders who had organised taxis to ferry members to the rally to take responsibility for paying them.
He said taxi bosses from KwaBhaca, Mount Ayliff and Sterkspruit had contacted him.
“I just listened and told them that the rally was not sanctioned by the party and that they must call the individuals [who arranged for the transport]. This has now become part of the challenges that we are facing,” Kubukeli said.
He said he had no choice but to report the matter to the party’s national office, to which he referred all questions.
Neither the affected taxi operators nor the MK national office could be reached for comment by the time of publication.
Pictured above: Umkhonto Wesizwe leader Jacob Zuma.
Image source: X
