The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), the country’s third-largest parliamentary bloc, announced Tuesday the immediate replacement of its chief whip, Colleen Makhubele, with Des van Rooyen, a former finance minister whose four day tenure in 2015 triggered a currency crisis and cemented his reputation as a polarizing figure in post-apartheid governance.
The move, confirmed in a media statement released by MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela, signals a strategic consolidation of leadership within the party’s parliamentary caucus as it seeks to sharpen discipline and align more closely with its radical economic transformation agenda.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party is pleased to announce the appointment of Comrade Des van Rooyen as the new Chief Whip of the MK Party Parliamentary Caucus effective immediately. Comrade van Rooyen is a seasoned cadre of the liberation movement with extensive academic, political and governance experience.
The party expressed “full confidence” that under his stewardship, the caucus “will be strengthened, disciplined and more strategically aligned with the Party’s historic mission of completing the total liberation of the South African people.”
Van Rooyen, 56, brings a long and turbulent political résumé to the role. A former uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) operative from 1986 to 1989 and soldier from 1989 to 1994, he rose through ANC ranks after 1994, serving as mayor of Merafong City, ANC provincial leader in Gauteng, and parliamentary whip on finance and economic transformation committees.
His national profile exploded and imploded in December 2015 when President Jacob Zuma appointed him Minister of Finance. The rand plunged 5.4% in a single day. Four days later, Zuma reversed the decision, reappointing Pravin Gordhan and shifting van Rooyen to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), where he served until 2018.
Critics labeled him the “Weekend Special.” Supporters saw him as a loyalist unfairly maligned. The Guptaleaks later linked him to contracts awarded to Gupta-linked firm Trillian Capital shortly after his CoGTA appointment.
After leaving the ANC in 2024 amid factional battles, van Rooyen joined the MKP and was sworn in as an MP in August 2024. Now, as chief whip, he replaces a figure whose own political journey has been no less eventful.
Makhubele, 45, a tech entrepreneur and former CEO of the Mzumbe Group, entered politics in 2020 with the Congress of the People (COPE). She rapidly ascended in Johannesburg’s coalition-driven council, becoming Speaker in 2022 before being expelled from COPE in 2023 over unauthorized coalition moves.
Undeterred, she founded the South African Rainbow Alliance (SARA), which flopped in the 2024 elections. In August 2024, she joined MKP, declaring it a “giant leap” for women in leadership. Appointed chief whip in May 2025, she lasted just six months.
We thank Comrade Colleen Makhubele, the former Chief Whip, for her service in this role.
Social media speculation on X linked her removal to internal vetting concerns or strategic realignment, with some users highlighting her rapid party-switching — COPE to SARA to MKP in under three years.
The reshuffle is the latest in a series of leadership changes within MKP’s 58-member parliamentary caucus. Since May 2024, the chief whip position has changed hands multiple times — from Mzwanele Manyi to Makhubele to van Rooyen — reflecting the party’s internal power dynamics and its effort to assert cohesion amid legal challenges to the 2024 election results.
With van Rooyen, a veteran of both liberation struggle and Zuma-era governance, now at the helm, MKP aims to project stability and ideological clarity. His academic credentials, including master’s degrees from Wits University and the University of London in public development and economic policy, are cited by the party as assets in advancing its legislative agenda.
Yet his appointment revives old debates about loyalty, competence, and the lingering influence of the Zuma network in South African politics.
As one X user remarked: “From Weekend Special to Chief Whip — Des van Rooyen’s comeback is complete. MKP just went full retro.”
For now, the caucus watches. The party assures supporters that the new leadership “will enrich the work of the Caucus, sharpen its political focus and enhance its ability to represent the will of the people without compromise.”
Whether van Rooyen’s tenure lasts longer than four days remains to be seen.
