He was never going to go down without a good fight, but it looks like Jacob Zuma is still tugging on strings behind the scenes.

We wrote about his fightback, and the frightening ramifications of it, a few weeks back, and perhaps the next phase has been initiated.

That would be the launching of a new party, Mazibuye African Congress, formed by two former EFF members in KwaZulu-Natal.

IOL reports:

The new party, Mazibuye African Congress, promises to champion the cause of black people, with its leaders saying the membership will not be open to white South Africans.

Indians could join the party but would not be able to hold any positions even in the lower structures, one of its leaders said, while maintaining the party was not at all racist.

“Our legal team is fine-tuning the party’s constitution so that it is in line with that of the country,” the party’s president, Reggie Ngcobo said. He is a former ANC member turned EFF activist and so is Nathi Phewa, the party’s secretary-general.

Ngcobo said: “Those who think we are opportunists are within their rights to think like that.”

Ngcobo admitted there were “too many” political parties already in the country but said his party entered the space because that is the only way to correct the ills of politicians.

Given what Julius Malema has had to say about Indian people in recent times, I’m not sure a party led by anyone affiliated with the EFF (currently or in the past) is going to feel welcoming.

More on that chat with JZ:

The leaders of the new political party sought advice from Zuma but Ngcobo said there was nothing sinister in this.

“We have no links with president Jacob Zuma. In fact we tried to even meet former president Thabo Mbeki but we were told that his diary is full,” he said.

Cue the dead giveaway:

Ngcobo said the party will support Zuma in his corruption trial.

Ah yes, there it is. They have no links with the former president, but they’re going to defend him against allegations of corruption.

Got it.

In a later interview with News24, Reggie Ngcobo shed more light on the Zuma link:

“We consulted Msholozi (Zuma’s clan name) as a stalwart, a former freedom fighter and the ex-president of the land – not as a member of the ANC. His advice was solely along those lines to groom us as children.

“We owe him nothing and he owes us nothing, but we believe that he is a total embodiment of a struggle of a black child in South Africa. He is one of the icons we are looking up to, but he is not a member of the Mazibuye African Congress,” Ngcobo said, adding that the party would launch soon.

And more on what the party wants to achieve, and how it will set itself apart:

Ngcobo said they were different to other political parties because they represented the interests of black people.

“We will bring back the dignity of blacks by decolonising their minds so that they believe and love themselves instead of following western protocols and systems,” he said…

Ngcobo added that he could not yet estimate how many members they had because they had “just” issued membership forms to people.

“Judging from all the consultations we had across the country, we anticipate having about 25 000 members by the end of next month,” he said.

There’s been talk about a breakaway party aiming to split the ANC for a while now, and this might be the moment.

According to their Facebook page, this is footage from the ‘1st national imbizo’:

May I humbly suggest that they invest in a better filming device? Just being helpful.

Interesting times ahead.

[sources:iol&news24]