Cape Town – Expelled uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) members Pumlani Kubukeli and Dr. Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala have been reinstated by the High Court of South Africa, Western Cape Division.
The pair brought the matter to the court, which reviewed and set aside their expulsion from the MK Party.
In its ruling delivered electronically on Friday, 25 September 2026, the court said: “The Presidential Decrees, as reported by the Secretary General of uMkhonto weSizwe Party on 27 August 2021, issued by the Honourable President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, expelling and terminating the membership of the two applicants, Mr Pumlani Kubukeli and Dr Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, from uMkhonto weSizwe Party, are reviewed and set aside, and the status quo ante is preserved in that Mr Pumlani Kubukeli and Dr Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala automatically, following the review and set aside, become members of MKP.”
The court further ordered that: “In the light of the Presidential Decree referred to in (a) above losing all force, all actions and enforcement tied to it must stop immediately and in further preserving the status quo ante, the applicants, Mr Pumlani Kubukeli and Dr Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, automatically, following the review and set aside of their expulsion and the consequent absence of a valid decree of expulsion by the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, become members of the National Assembly of the Republic of South Africa.
“The matters of Mr Pumlani Kubukeli and Dr Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala are referred to the Honourable President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, in his capacity as President of uMkhonto we Sizwe Party, to be dealt with in the light of this judgment, including to reconsider the case properly, following correct legal and procedural rules.
“The first, second and third respondents [MK Party, Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma and Sibonelo Nomvalo] are to pay the costs of this application, including the costs of two counsel on Scale C, the one paying the other to be absolved.”]
