Speaker of Parliament Thoko Didiza has sworn in new Members of Parliament of the uMkhonto weSizwe Party. This comes after the party led by Jacob Zuma expelled 18 Members of Parliament earlier this month. The party said that the members were removed from Parliament as they were not part of the list that had been sent to the IEC.

[WATCH] Papa Penny, Mzwanele Manyi and former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe are sworn in as new MK Party MPs. #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/co01TEa4uk

— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) August 28, 2024

CONTROVERSIAL FIGURES

Newly appointed MK's National Coordinator and former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu was the first to share the news of the new members that were going to be sworn in today. "The comrades who will be sworn in Parliament today on behalf of uMkhontowe Sizwe are a clear and emphatic demonstration that the Movement (MKP) is serious about an alternate revolutionary government and quality public representation. Best wishes Comrades BM, SG, LM, MM, NG, EGN," wrote Shivambu. Controversial figures like former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe and Lucky Montana who were part of the Zuma's administration made a comeback. Molefe left the power utility under a dark cloud after he had a fallout with former Enterprise Minister Lynn Brown while Montana was named in the State Capture Commission in 2022. Chief Justice Raymond Zondo found that Montana appeared to have been a significant role player in the capture of Prasa, by determining which service providers would be allocated major tenders. Zondo recommended that the police investigate Montana for his role in awarding what he said was a corrupt locomotive contract to Swifambo and for multimillion-rand property deals. Other well-known figures who were sworn in today are former Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama, former EFF MP Mzwanele Manyi and former ANC councillor Eric "Papa Penny" Nkovani.

COURT MATTER

The swearing in of new members comes as ten of the fired MPs are challenging their dismissal in the Western Cape High Court. The fired former MPs also claim that the resignation letters given to Didiza were fraudulent as they never signed them. The MK Party members, represented by Wendy Cele & Associates, want the court to review and set aside the MK Party's decision to terminate their membership. In court papers, the former MPs also said that the party never notified them about the decision to fire them from Parliament. They also accused the MK Party of lying about following internal processes to fire them. The members further want the party to reconsider their decision, as some of them quit their jobs to focus their energy on representing the party in Parliament.