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Makhubele gets soft MK Party landing after dismal 2024 election showing

Colleen Makhubele, the former City of Johannesburg council speaker, has dropped the political party she started in November 2023 to join the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.

In statement released on Thursday morning, Makhubele thanked the leadership of her South African Rainbow Alliance (SARA) but said MK Party would be the vehicle to bring about transformation in the country.

“My decision to join MK Party will only amplify the work we were doing in SARA, and I will ensure that I carry with me the values and ethics that bound us together,” Makhubele said.

Praising the MK Party as “beacon of hope to rally and unite African leaders”, she took a swipe at the ANC and other political parties constituting the so-called government of national unity (GNU).

“To the GNU ‘collaborators’ who are extremely excited by the never-imagined rare opportunity to govern with white supremacy in blue lights, the call for Africa is too daunting a task for you.”

Colleen Makhubele: COPE, SARA, now MK Party

Makhubele, who was speaker of the Johannesburg council between October 2022 and November 2023, started SARA in late 2023 after she was expelled from Congress of the People (COPE).

COPE fired her for allegedly establishing SARA without permission but she claims she was axed “because I had the courage to voice my ambitions”.

Starting SARA ahead of the 2024 elections, Makhubele aimed for a 1% share of the national electoral pie but South Africans rejected her party emphatically, give her 4,796 votes – a 0.03% share.

In Gauteng and Limpopo, the only two provinces SARA contested, the party garnered 0.07% and 0.05% of the vote respectively.

It is unclear if she also believes that the elections were rigged, as MK Party argues without evidence, but three days after the polls, she posted her appreciation for the support SARA received.

“Thank you to all our SARA voters, supporters, prayer warriors and friends,” she posted on X (Twitter).

Makhubele’s move to MK Party comes in the wake of other high-profile defections.

Two weeks ago, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) co-founder Floyd Shivambu quit the Red Berets to join the Zuma-led party.

Shivambu wished the EFF “full prosperity and success” as he exited the party to throw his lot in with MK Party. A week later, Shivambu was announced as the national organiser for South Africa’s third-largest party.

Zuma ally Mzwanele Manyi also quit the EFF, a party he joined in 2023. Manyi, formerly a member of the ANC, All Africa Decolonisation Congress, African Transformation Movement and recently EFF, is now the MK party’s chief whip in the National Assembly.

Do you think Makhubele will move the needle for MK Party?

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