Will Shivambu thrive or falter in Zuma’s MK?

Floyd Shivambu’s move from the EFF to the uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK) has the potential of being a beautiful masterstroke for him and MK, but it also has the potential of being severely career-limiting and disastrous for former president Jacob Zuma’s retirement home, the MK. Because of how well the MK did in the election two months ago, people are already forgetting that it is a party of the disgruntled, just like Congress of the People (Cope) was. But MK also has some disturbing flaws in its foundation and these may prove to be the seeds that lead to its own demise down the road.

The biggest seed that could see MK fall apart is that it is a personality-driven party. Zuma – and probably his daughter – calls the shots. It is his image and popularity in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) that led people to vote for the MK.

Zuma’s supporters are drawn from one nation in South Africa, the Zulu people. ALSO READ: Gardee warns EFF members being ‘recruited’ by other parties after Shivambu’s exit Some of the people who voted for the party see it as “our thing” and might make life difficult for someone like Shivambu coming into a senior leadership position, depriving one of their own an opportunity to lead “our own thing”. A much bigger fundamental flaw in the MK’s foundation is that there has been a delay in the building of internal structures to capacitate the party and turn it into a compact unit capable of withstanding political storms that parties go through.

The MK wi.