Perceptions of internal tumult in the MK Party are overblown. The organisation is more stable than people realise, and it’s priming to liquidate the ANC in Joburg townships. So says Bongani Baloyi, confirmed as the party’s mayoral candidate for Joburg last week.
He is confident of two crucial factors going into the local government elections: that MK will not work with the DA in the city under any circumstances, and that the party will significantly weaken the ANC in townships.
Baloyi’s political journey is among the most interesting in South African politics. He cut his teeth in the DA, where he ran the Midvaal municipality for two terms, securing eight consecutive clean audits during that time.
After the deep internal rupture in the DA following the 2019 elections, which led to the departure of Mmusi Maimane to form Build One South Africa and Herman Mashaba to form ActionSA, Baloyi appeared adrift, reluctantly joining Mashaba at ActionSA.
However, it was not to last. In a dramatic public fallout, Baloyi decried the lack of ideological direction and internal democracy in Mashaba’s party and jumped ship to form his own outfit, Xiluva.
Xiluva’s founding principles signalled a deep shift in Baloyi’s political outlook, from the liberal DA to mirroring Jacob Zuma’s ultra-conservative and deeply personal political project. He advocated parliamentary instead of constitutional sovereignty; ideology rooted in ubuntu and the total emancipation of black people; and a greater role for traditional leaders in governance. The similarities between Xiluva and MK were clear, and in September 2024 Bongani folded his own outfit into Zuma’s party.
“For me, it was that firm understanding of who I am and how I want to relate to politics, and also breaking away from the politics of ‘isms’ of Western ideology,” he says. “You see, the bulk of African politics is shaped by Western ideology, from its socialism, liberalism and all these other ‘isms’, but no-one inherently has said: ‘But what makes sense to us as a people in this part of the world?’”
That’s the difference with MK, he continues. “Many people can’t describe it, essentially because it represents the essence, it really carries the true essence and aspirations of us as a people. So for me, it was not a strange thing, but it was rather the development and maturing of my politics.”
Baloyi partly shrugs off criticism of the deep ethical questions surrounding Zuma’s political outfit, ranging from its lack of internal democracy to the opacity of its funding and the revolving door of top leaders.
“I think the fear of instability is a genuine concern that many voters share … but we make the case that the positions which have been affected are at the very top … If you consider the levels below that, you see that it’s fairly insulated and very stable.”
This may be the case for now, but once the party is entrenched in positions of power in councils, the instability could filter down.
Still, Baloyi cites the Gauteng legislature as an example of stability; only one person has been replaced after the death of a member, he says. Mpumalanga is similarly stable, he argues, with no major internal tumult barring the departure of a key leader to another party.
Kingmaker?
Joburg is effectively ground zero in the upcoming election, primed for a profound shift in political leadership. The two largest parties are throwing heavyweights at the race, with Helen Zille as the face of the DA’s campaign and the ANC considering party veteran Frank Chikane.
This is the battlefield onto which Baloyi steps. He argues that his age (he’s 39) and MK’s ability to eat away at the ANC’s share of the vote in black areas mean it stands a strong chance of emerging as a significant player in the city.
“The key assumption is really on the lowest possible turnout in townships and informal areas, which is an area where we are really strong. We are pushing, we’re going to ensure that we actually turn out our voters … We’re quite clear that we’re going to take a chunk of voters from the ANC,” Baloyi says.
He has a point: Zuma’s MK is part of the reason for the ANC’s shock 40% share of the national vote in 2024, but an even more crucial factor was turnout; ANC voters stayed home en masse, culminating in its drubbing at the ballot box.
The Social Research Foundation now polls MK at 13% in Joburg over ActionSA’s 10%, a snapshot that illustrates the party could become a crucial coalition player and potentially a kingmaker. MK obtained 13% of the vote in Joburg in the 2024 national election, the third-largest party after the ANC and the DA, and ahead of Mashaba’s ActionSA and the EFF, both critical players in Joburg coalitions since 2016.
Whether Baloyi will last as MK’s mayoral candidate is uncertain, but his outright rejection of the DA as a partner indicates that the party is eyeing a tie-up with its nemesis, the ANC — a potential scenario with deep implications for the city and the GNU.
Marrian is a political analyst with the Bureau for Economic Research
