Zuma moves to tighten grip on MK Party by placing secretary-general’s office under presidency
Jacob Zuma has moved to cut the powers of MK Party secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo, issuing a directive on July 24 that places the office directly
Jacob Zuma has moved to cut the powers of MK Party secretary-general Sibonelo Nomvalo, issuing a directive on July 24 that places the office directly under the president’s control. The order strips the secretary-general’s office of signing authority and shifts its administration to Zuma’s office.
The decision reaches into the party’s core machinery. Membership systems, governance monitoring, communications, security and party structures now fall under Zuma’s authority, according to the directive. For a party already watched closely for signs of internal discipline and command, the move concentrates power at the top. Fast. Hard.
Presidential control расширens
Zuma said the secretary-general’s office would “function directly under the office of the president,” a formulation that leaves little room for ambiguity. In practical terms, the office once managed by Nomvalo no longer acts on its own in key administrative matters. Signing authority, a basic tool in internal party administration, has also been transferred to Zuma’s office.
That shift matters because the secretary-general’s role usually sits near the center of party operations. It is often the post that handles the day-to-day machinery that keeps membership records, internal coordination and messaging moving. Here, that authority is being pulled upward. The balance changes.
In his directive, Zuma said the office is being “strategically repositioned” to ensure “tighter organisational coherence, disciplined administration, and unified strategic direction across the movement.” The language points to a centralising push, not a cosmetic adjustment.
Strategic Presidential Team to oversee operations
The directive is part of a wider restructuring that creates a Strategic Presidential Team, or STP, to oversee MK’s operations, candidate selection and communications. That places more of the party’s practical and political decision-making around the presidency, with less room for separate centres of authority.
For MK, the move comes at a sensitive moment. Internal restructuring often tells its own story. Who controls the files, the signatures, the structures — that is where real power sits. And now, much of it appears to be moving into Zuma’s hands.
The party has not released a broader public explanation beyond the directive, but the language suggests a deliberate attempt to tighten control across the organisation. Membership systems and communications can shape who gets heard. Security and party structures can shape who gets in. Candidate selection can shape everything else.
What changes for Nomvalo
Nomvalo remains in place as secretary-general, but with reduced autonomy after the directive. The order, issued on July 24, redefines the office’s relationship to the presidency and removes the authority it previously held over signing and administration.
That is the central fact. The office stays. The power shifts.
For observers of South African politics, the move adds another layer to MK’s internal evolution under Zuma’s leadership. Party structures often reveal the real hierarchy more clearly than speeches do, and this one makes the hierarchy explicit: the secretary-general’s office now answers directly to the president.
The restructuring also raises the stakes for the new Strategic Presidential Team, which will oversee the party’s operations and candidate selection as the reorganisation takes effect. The directive leaves no doubt about where the center of gravity now sits — in Zuma’s office, with signing authority and administrative control attached.
