MKMVA serves urgent lawyers’ letter of demand on the ANC to declare the so-called all-inclusive MK Unity Conference together with all the decisions taken there, null and void

22 May 2022

This media statement serves to inform all media that following the failure and collapse of the so-called ‘All Inclusive MK Unity Conference’, that was held in East London from the 27th of April until the 1st of May 2022, the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) proceeded to function as the only legal Association of MK veterans. The so-called conference collapsed on Saturday the 30th of April 2022 when the MKMVA delegates officially withdrew from the gathering.

The MKMVA NEC held a media conference on Friday the 6th of May 2022 at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre, and issued an extensive media statement explaining the background and reasons for the formal and official withdrawal of MKMVA from the so-called MK unity conference. The attempts by the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) to unilaterally disband MKMVA was always blatantly illegal and unconstitutional, as MKMVA is an autonomous Association with its own legal persona and Constitution.

MKMVA cannot be disbanded by the ANC NEC, and the ANC NEC knows this very well. They have received several legal opinions that that it is illegal, yet they proceeded to carry out a blatantly illegal act. Thus MKMVA is proceeding to function as the only legal Association of all MK veterans, and we will remain the sole, and only, legal owner of our assets, and will administer those assets accordingly in the interest of the well-being of our members.

On Tuesday the 10th of May 2022 the Acting President of MKMVA, comrade Taylor Nsimbini, wrote a formal letter on behalf of the MKMVA NEC to the Secretary General’s Office (SGO) of the ANC, ℅ the Treasurer General of the ANC, comrade Paul Mashatile, who is standing in for the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC. In the said letter the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) is informed that MKMVA formally withdrew from the failed so-called All Inclusive MK Unity Conference, and thus that the gathering collapsed, and the Conference was rendered null and void. The ANC NEC was furthermore informed in the letter that MKMVA in terms of our Constitution continues to exist through all our legitimate and legal structures at all levels, throughout the Republic of South Africa, and will continue to execute all our rights and duties in terms of our Constitution and legal existence. The African National Congress was accordingly informed that it can continue to engage with MKMVA through our legal structures, National Office Bearers and National Executive Committee (NEC).

Similar letters were also dispatched to inform the South African National Military Veterans Association (SANMVA), and the Department of Military Veterans (DMV), of the continuing legal existence and functioning of MKMVA as the only legal and legitimate Association representing MK military veterans. Subsequently we have noted a media statement on the outcomes the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ANC that was held on the 16th of May 2022, in which the NWC welcomed the formation of the illegitimate and illegal MK Liberation War Veterans at the collapsed so-called All Inclusive Conference.

We furthermore noted with dismay that the ANC NWC proceeded along this blatantly illegal route to express support for the illegal so-called leadership that emerged from the collapsed conference. According to the ANC NWC media statement an illegal inaugural meeting of this sham ‘leadership’ was due to be held from the 20th to the 22nd of May 2022.

This is totally illegal, because the ANC NWC recognises an illegal so-called ‘interim structure’ without only flimsy ‘constitutional guidelines’ and no constitution. It is truly extraordinary that the ANC NWC fails to see anything wrong with such amateurish and blatantly illegal conduct. It is also noted that comrade Paul Mashatile has not replied at all to our letter of the 10th of May 2022, where these issues were pertinently raised. Following our initial letter to the Secretary General’s Office of the ANC - and in the context of all of the above - our attorneys, Phosa Loots Incorporated, have on the Friday, the 20th of May 2022 hand delivered a Letter of Demand to the effect that following the official withdrawal, and lodging of a grievance by MKMVA, the so-called All Inclusive MK Unity Conference collapsed, and was rendered null and void.

The letter therefore demands an undertaking from the ANC SGO declaring the so-called conference null and void, and to clearly state that the conference - together with all the decisions taken - are nullified.

The ANC SGO is given a deadline by close of business tomorrow, Monday the 23rd of May 2022, to furnish MKMVA with such an unequivocal undertaking, and if it fails to do so MKMVA has instructed our attorneys to institute an urgent legal application against the ANC, as well as the Department of Military Veterans (DMV) to obtain an order to nullify the conference and all the decisions taken there.

It is the firm belief of MKMVA that it is in the interest of the ANC and of ourselves, as MKMVA, not to allow illegal acts to be carried out and to be perpetuated. As we have stated in our media statement of the 6th of May 2022, we plead with the African National Congress to stop dividing the community of MK veterans, and to stop making us the playing field, and victims, of the deeply ingrained factionalism that has the ANC in a terrible strangle grip. It is driven by this factionalism that the ANC is now proceeding to walk along the untenable route of the blatant flouting of the law and wanton illegality.

As MKMVA we respect ourselves as well as the ANC, and our liberation history and struggle credentials, far too much. We cannot allow this to happen. The actions - as set out in this media statement - that we are undertaking is testimony to our commitment to continue to serve the MK veterans community, and to work for the salvation of our beloved Liberation Movement, the African National Congress. 

Issued by Carl Niehaus, Spokesperson, MKMVA, 22 May 2022