Bishop Tsekedi, who supported Zuma and Mogoeng for presidential candidates, now tops MK Party's list

Bishop-turned-politician Sophonia Tsekedi, who now tops the MK Party parliament candidate list after former president Jacob Zuma was barred from running, wanted former chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng to be the country’s president.

Tsekedi, leader of the All African Alliance Movement (AAAM) which endorses the MK Party, held third spot on the MK Party parliament candidate list but now leads after the Constitutional Court ruled Zuma was ineligible to stand for the May 29 elections and founder Jabulani Khumalo was expelled from the party. 

Tsekedi’s party previously dominated headlines when it elected Mogoeng as its preferred presidential candidate in 2022.

“Mogoeng Mogoeng was the only one and we all agreed [that he should be the presidential candidate]. We wanted a credible leader that has been tested like Mogoeng,” Tsekedi said previously. 

There has been speculation about who will replace Zuma in the MP candidate list. Some on social media suggested the vacuum in the MK Party leadership could be filled by the retired judge.

Mogoeng previously rejected AAAM’s nomination, saying against all odds he would beat politicians for the presidency without forming or joining a political party.   

After Mogoeng’s rejection earlier this year, Tsekedi described Zuma as the “saviour of black people”. 

“There is a saying that goes 'one in a million’ but this one [Zuma] is one in 10-million. I always tell people he is our last bullet. If we do not fire to hit the target, we will all die as black people.

“In South Africa we had a problem of black presidents being put in power by Western leaders until Msholozi [Zuma] became a president. He placed himself but they pushed him through media propaganda,” Tsekedi told congregants at the Rivers of Living Waters Ministries in Evaton earlier this year. 

He claimed the corruption-accused Gupta brothers came to South Africa when president Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki were still heads of states and the “conspiracy of state capture” was created to remove Zuma.

“The plan was to destroy the ANC. We cannot save the ANC from the inside. To save this country we have to come out of the ANC. There is no other person who can save this country besides Nxamalala [Zuma]. We need to change the monster that is the constitution.” 

He made remarks similar to Zuma's regarding an overhaul of the constitution. 

“If it doesn’t change, things will remain the same because everything in South Africa works with courts.”

While many debate the MK Party's leadership troubles, spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela was unfazed by recent developments, expressing confidence Zuma would make a comeback into the presidency.

“He will be reinstated into the Union Buildings to lead the country once we secure a two-thirds majority. No efforts by the [Cyril] Ramaphosa-led ANC or any compromised judges will hinder this mission. This heavily flawed and conflicted judgment is not the end,” he said.

The debate continues on social media: