MKP members walked from Tshwane to Joburg photo by Dimakatso Modipa
Dissatisfied members of Umkhonto We Sizwe Party (MKP) embarked on a protest walk by marching from Tshwane to the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg on Monday.
The march started at Jeff Masemola Street in Tshwane, proceeded to Sun Kopane Hall in Akexander, then ended at the Constitutional Court right in the city centre of Johannesburg.
According to a statement made at a media briefing by MK Party member Bonginkosi Khanyile in Tshwane before the march, the protest walk was envisaged to take eleven hours from Tshwane to Alexander, where the MK Party protesting walkers would rest and sleep before taking a three hour walk to the Constitutional Court in completion of their journey and hand over their grievances.
The aim of the protest walk was to register MK Party”s dissatisfaction about MK Party’s votes which were allegedly stolen in the May 29 general elections.
“How can Umkhonto We Sizwe Party come in at position 3 with 15% while the DA got 21% at position 2?” asked a puzzled Khanyile.
“Who voted for John Steenhuisen of the DA instead of voting for Jacob Zuma?” he asked again.
“In South Africa our votes as MK Party were stolen, the election was rigged and I am focusing deliberately on the DA for now because before the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) system crashed when the election results were streaming in, MK Party was in position 2 after behind the ANC, but when the system started working again MK Party votes remained stagnant while those of the DA started rising and suddenly the DA was in position 2,” lamented Khanyile.
Khanyile said the walk to the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg was a peaceful one and demonstrated MK Party’s courage and firm belief in upholding democratic principles and a deep-seated conviction and strength that they have as young people in the MK Party as the ages of the marchers were 50 years and below.
“All countries which are in chaos in Africa started with one party stealing the votes of another party until people lose interest and confidence in all the systems that carry democracy,” said Khanyile.
“If elections are constantly rigged then there will come a time when we say in this country that we are sick and tired of the IEC because we know that results are going to be rigged, and once people lose trust in the state then chaos is inevitable,” warned Khanyile.
He said if the issue of vote-rigging is not addressed then chaos is inevitable and we are saying the judiciary must play its role because we believe that there is no sabe or educated judge who will say MK Party votes were not rigged and that the elections were free and fair,” he fumed.
He warned that the Constitutional Court must accept their memorandum or else they as MK won’t leave the Constitutional Court premises.
“Our right to protest, to walk for the purpose of showing our frustrations is enshrined in the Constitution,” he said.
Khanyile stressed that the walk to the Constitutional Court is not something that is illegal and appealed to the Constitutional Court to intervene decisively regarding their demands as MK Party.