Senior Umkhonto Wesizwe Party official and prominent lawyer Dali Mpofu has hit back at the African National Congress, accusing it of attempting to divert attention from South Africa’s domestic crises by criticising former President Jacob Zuma’s recent remarks on Western Sahara.
Over the weekend, the ANC issued a strongly worded statement condemning Zuma for voicing support for Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara – a territory that has long been the subject of a protracted conflict between Morocco and the Sahrawi people seeking independence.
However, Mpofu dismissed the ANC’s reaction as a political smokescreen. “Don’t be easily fooled by ANC’s cheap deflection tactics from the burning issues at home,” he said in a post on social media.
Mpofu further accused the ANC of hypocrisy, saying the party had “lost the moral high ground” and was trying to weaponize foreign policy to distract from its failures in governance.
The MK Party, has been positioning itself as the voice of the disenfranchised and disillusioned, many of whom were once loyal ANC supporters.
The controversy surrounding Zuma’s comments came after he appeared in a video alongside Moroccan officials, sparking outrage among pro-Palestine and pro-Western Sahara activists who have historically aligned with the ANC’s international solidarity policies.
Despite this, Mpofu insisted the outrage was misplaced. The ANC has yet to respond to Mpofu’s latest remarks. However, political analysts suggest this war of words signals intensifying tensions between the ruling party and its former members now leading the MK Party.
