Mazibuye African Congress (MAC) is the newest political party on the South Africa scene. The organisation, founded by two former Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) members, has already caused a stir by claiming to be an exclusively black party with a strict anti-white membership policy.

It’s not been an easy entrance into the political sphere for MAC. Rumours surrounding former president Jacob Zuma joining the group sparked controversy earlier in the month.

While Zuma has denied the allegations, MAC confirms that they met with the ex-president and sought his advice prior to officially forming the political party.

MAC maintain that there was nothing sinister regarding their meeting with Zuma, and that they even tried to arrange an interview with former president Thabo Mbeki. That meeting never happened; Mbeki said his schedule was full.

The party’s president, Reggie Ngcobo, has a chequered past. First, he was a proud African National Congress (ANC) comrade but switched sides to the EFF following inner party factionalism. Nathi Phewa, the party’s secretary general, followed suit.

Mazibuye: No white members allowed

While MAC’s political crawl begins to evolve into somewhat of an uneasy waddle, the party has issued its manifesto, which maintains that party membership is strictly afforded to black South Africans only.

According to a report by EWN regarding the membership protocols of the newly found political party, Ngcobo announced:

“We really don’t want to have white people in our organisation at this present moment because we believe that the challenges faced by native indigenous people are unique to them.”

Via the groups Facebook page, Ngcobo said that while whites would be completely excluded from MAC, for now, South African Indians ‘could join the party but would not be able to hold any positions even in the lower structures’.

The political party has maintained that its commitment is to the upliftment of black South Africans, addressing social-economic issues which restrict financial freedom and cause indignity.

Ngcobo confirmed that legal counsel was preparing the political party’s constitution, saying:

“Our legal team is fine tuning the party’s constitution so that it is in line with that of the country. Those who think we are opportunists are within their rights to think like that.”

Finally, putting rumours regarding the party’s relationship with Zuma to rest, Ngcobo said:

“We have no links with president Jacob Zuma.”

Ngcobo said the party will support Zuma in his corruption trial.