MKMVA DEEPLY AGGRIEVED BY THE COLLAPSED MEETING WITH THE ANC NATIONAL OFFICE BEARERS, AND ANNOUNCES THAT WE WILL NOT DISBAND
Date: Monday, 14 June 2021
The meeting held today between the National Office Bearers of the ANC, the National Office Bearers of the Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) and MK National Council collapsed.
MKMVA is deeply aggrieved by the manner in which the Chairperson of the ANC, comrade Gwede Mantashe, conducted the meeting. After opening remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa to the effect that a decision was taken to disband MKMVA, and the parallel structure called MK National Council, the National Office Bearers of MKMVA requested for an explanation about why such a radical deviation from the MK unitary process is being imposed.
Our President, comrade Kebby Maphatsoe, and Deputy President, comrade Taylor Nisimbini, requested for explanations about these drastic steps in line with the letter that the President of MKMVA wrote on Sunday the 6th of June 2021 to the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC, comrade Jessie Duarte, requesting for proper explanations to be provided. While they were still expressing their concerns, and insisting that reasons should be provided, the Chairperson abruptly ended the virtual Zoom meeting. Other members of the MKMVA National Office Bearers were not even provided with an opportunity to speak.
MKMVA as an official constitutional and legal structure feels fundamentally disrespected. This engagement was alien to the democratic culture of the African National Congress, which has always been to debate, and to respect divergent views. MKMVA was being dictated to in an entirely un-ANC manner.