MK Party leader Nhlamulo Ndhlela is optimistic the ANC will suffer another legal blow in its bid to appeal a decision taken by the Durban high court over the use of what the ANC says is its name and trademark.
Ndhlela was speaking on the sidelines of the ANC's trademark appeal case against the MK Party on Thursday.
“They lost a case in the first round. The ANC should rather focus on affairs and grow their own party which is below 40%. It’s these kind of things that lead to them losing elections,” said Ndhlela.
He said the public had grown tired of the politics and people wanted change.
Jacob Zuma, who was accompanied by his daughter Dudu Zuma-Sambudla, kept a low profile and didn't engage with about 500 party members who gathered outside the court. It was his first public appearance since he was expelled by the ANC.
The ANC said in a statement the party was appealing the Supreme Court of Appeal ruling into the use of the logo and felt there was reasonable prospects of success. The party felt the court had erred in reaching its conclusions and deemed Zuma to be in violation of the Trademark Act.
“All they [ANC] care about is buying things and influencing policies. We, on the other hand, are more focused on our party, how we will grow further and do well in the 2026 local government elections,” Ndhlela said.
He said with their ascendancy to parliament, the party plans to hold government to account.
“We are going to bring innovative ways to monitor these people. We obviously have to question why Cyril Ramaphosa has taken all the state-owned enterprises and put them in his office,” Ndhlela said.
He listed Eskom, SAA and Transnet, saying these enterprises were not like Shanduka (in which the president has shares) for Ramaphosa to trade with his “white racist friends”.
He said they plan to up the ante in exercising oversight on thePresidency.
“In the same way there are subcommittees in other departments, we need to know what is happening in the Presidency. We are going to bring back Phala Phala. Our president is the only one who seems to be hauled before the courts,” said Ndhlela.
He said the party was not in a rush to convene a maiden elective conference, saying they had observed how delegates are often bought in the run-up to conferences.
“That is why we need to take our time and vet everyone who comes into our ranks,” said Ndhlela.
These ANC people sat with Helen. It’s not a government of national unity. It’s an alliance between those of sell-outs. It’s an alliance between the sellers and white people
— Arthur Zwane, MKP secretary-general
“Our logo represents the blood of people who fought for freedom,” said secretary-general Arthur Zwane. “It represents all those people who sleep without having eaten. All those who are sitting outside factories and seeking jobs. It represents child-headed households. It represents the dignity and last hope of black people,” he said.
He launched a broadside at the ANC for having sold out the people.
“These ANC people sat with Helen. It’s not a government of national unity. It’s an alliance between those of sell-outs. It’s an alliance between the sellers and white people,” said Zwane.
“If you sitting at home and kids bring their homework on the GNU ... you must tell them that those are abadayisi [sell-outs],” said Zwane.
He accused ANC party leaders who sit in parliament of being proxies for the Stellenbosch mafia.
MK Party youth firebrand Bonginkosi Khanyile said he was convinced the MK logo belonged to the fledgling political party.
“It does not belong to Helen Zille and Cyril Ramaphosa. What does Mbalula know of MK?” said Khanyile.
“We won KZN convincingly. These are people of KZN who supported us. We also won the first round of court convincingly. We won the first round in court, you could see that the judges were baffled,” said Khanyile.
He warned MK would continue to dent the electoral fortunes of the ANC at the 2026 electoral polls.
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