Durban — Malesela Mkonyama, an uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) supporter, took a giant step last month of trekking from his home province of Limpopo to Jacob Zuma’s house in Nkandla, north of KwaZulu-Natal.
Mkonyama, 63, widely known by his moniker, King Sebatha, who embarked on his lone 20-day walk, which is over 670 kilometres, last month, is now almost at the end of the journey and expected to arrive in Nkandla on Friday.
He has been posting updates about his walk on his TikTok account. King Sebatha said the walk is aimed at encouraging Zuma, who now leads the MKP, to keep on fighting against the alleged rigging of the May 29 elections.
He has dubbed his walk #WhereIsMyVote and has been seen being greeted by people, some donning the MKP party regalia.
Scores of supporters were eagerly awaiting the arrival of King Sebatha on Friday in Nkandla, with a welcome ceremony planned for Saturday.
One of them is Sifiso Mkhize, a former ANC member, who is now a staunch backer of the MKP.
“He has inspired all of us to keep on fighting against any injustice that life would throw at us. He is a true patriot, and we can’t wait to meet him on Friday when he arrives in Nkandla,” said Mkhize.
He got a hero's welcome from MKP backers when he passed in Newcastle with many ululated while others took turns to snap pictures with him.
The MKP backers have been alleging the rigging of the votes, claiming that they were cheated, saying that there were 9.3 million votes that were unaccounted for.
The party even dragged the Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) of South Africa to the court.
However, it later withdrew the matter, claiming it had roped in experts combing through the new evidence the party had uncovered.
In KZN, the MKP won 37 seats in the provincial legislature with 80 seats, while nationally, the party got 58 seats, becoming the official opposition to the Government of National Unity power pact.
His arrival in Nkandla will come on the back of Zuma’s expulsion from the ANC after he dumped the party he once led for 10 as its president.
The ANC expelled Zuma following his public association with the MKP, which was triggered by his fallout with the incumbent party president Cyril Ramaphosa, who once deputised Zuma as ANC and state deputy president.
Zuma has repeatedly claimed in his previous interviews that he joined the ANC when he was 17 years old.
Zuma has 21 days to appeal against his expulsion by the party’s National Disciplinary Committee (NDC).
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