MK party chief whip arrested over extortion claims

MKP is the official opposition party of South Africa. With 14% of votes or so, they are the largest party not in government, as the ANC (40%) and DA (22% or so) are in coalition in national government.

The party's chief whip has been arrested for allegedly committing fraud and extortion against the party's own staff.

MKP's leadership structure is the most tumultuous of any party I know of. Leaders are constantly being removed and replaced on a whim by party leader Jacob Zuma. The Chief Whip's office has been occupied by at least 3 individuals now (I lose count) – one for just a day or so.

There is simply no way this party will survive once Jacob Zuma is gone. They have no structure, and clearly cannot recruit good leaders even by their own internal standards. There is no stability or clear succession – this is going to be just another one in a long list of South Africa's one election parties. It is nothing like the EFF, which is a serious, formal and professional organization even if it is far left in its economic policies and racist in the conduct of its leaders.

This is one of many articles I could've posted about the absolute chaos of this party, but the relevance here is just to show that MKP are not serious people. This means that your expectations for the future of South Africa and the coalition government should be premised on this party collapsing by the next general election. Whether that turns out to be good or bad for liberal parties like the DA is another question. But MKP is really not something that will outlast Jacob Zuma.