By Everson Luhanga
- The R2-million-per-table fundraising dinner with Floyd Shivambu has been scrapped, party insiders told Scrolla.Africa on Thursday.
- Deputy president Robert Nwedo has quit the Afrika Mayibuye Movement, weeks after another senior leader was fired.
The Afrika Mayibuye Movement has cancelled its high-priced fundraising dinner just days before it was set to happen — while its leadership continues to collapse.
The Mayibuye iAfrika gala, set for Friday 28 November at the Mhulu Luxury Boutique Hotel in Johannesburg, was meant to raise millions of rands for the new political party.
An exclusive dinner table with party president Floyd Shivambu was selling for R2-million. Other leadership-access packages ranged from R1.5-million for dinner with the deputy president, R1-million with the chairperson, and R500,000 with the secretary-general. Seats with other senior officials cost between R300,000 and R100,000. A single ticket to attend was R10,000.
Each option included a three-course meal and live entertainment.
But the event has been cancelled, senior party officials confirmed to Scrolla.Africa.
Critics had slammed the dinner prices, saying they clashed with the party’s claims of supporting the poor.
The party has also been rocked by the resignation of deputy president Robert Nwedo, who confirmed to Scrolla.Africa on Thursday that he has left the movement.
In a letter dated 25 November, Nwedo said he was stepping down to focus on his trade union, the Maanda Ashu Workers Union of South Africa (Mawusa), which represents thousands of Expanded Public Works Programme workers.
“My focus is building an organisation that is loyal to the workers and poor citizens,” he wrote.
He said he plans to start a new political party and will give details at a media briefing on Monday.
Nwedo’s exit follows the recent firing of fellow deputy president Nolubabalo Mcinga after a fallout with Shivambu. That means the party now has no second-in-command.
Mcinga reacted to Nwedo’s resignation on social media, saying it had “shaken” her. She said they had “built the movement with their own hands”.
With both deputies gone and internal divisions deepening, the future of Floyd Shivambu’s party is now uncertain.
Pictured above: Floyd Shivambu during a previous public event.
Image source: Scrolla.Africa archive
