Xitsonga music legend and former MK Party MP Gezani Erik Nkovani, known as Papa Penny, has joined the Afrika Mayibuye Movement led by Floyd Shivambu, saying the party offered him a platform to better serve communities in Limpopo. Shivambu says Mayibuye plans to contest all 4,488 wards in the 2026 local government elections.
Xitsonga music icon and former Member of Parliament Papa Penny has crossed the political floor for the second time in two years, leaving the uMkhonto weSizwe Party to join the Afrika Mayibuye Movement led by his former MK Party colleague Floyd Shivambu. The announcement was made at a media briefing on Wednesday 20 May 2026, with Shivambu personally welcoming Penny to the movement that he founded after being dismissed as MK Party secretary-general in June 2025.
Papa Penny, whose real name is Gezani Erik Nkovani, framed the move in deeply personal terms. “People were asking themselves where I’m going. I said I’m going home. This is home,” he told the media briefing.
Why He Left the MK Party
Papa Penny resigned as an MK Party MP citing internal conflict and a lack of support from the party’s leadership for members outside KwaZulu-Natal. His resignation letter was pointed and unsparing in its criticism of the party’s internal culture.
“As a revolutionary, I could stomach such behaviour if it were coming from the enemies of our revolution. Unfortunately, when such comes from those within our ranks, it is impossible to overlook such a betrayal,” he wrote in his resignation letter. The sentiment reflects a broader frustration that has been expressed by several prominent MK Party figures who hail from outside KwaZulu-Natal, who have alleged that the party’s national structures disproportionately favour members and interests from its KwaZulu-Natal base.
Papa Penny had previously been one of Floyd Shivambu’s most vocal defenders within the MK Party, publicly supporting him during the controversy that preceded his dismissal as secretary-general. His departure from the MK Party and subsequent move to Mayibuye is consistent with a pattern of Shivambu loyalists following him out of the MK Party and into his new movement.
His Connection to Limpopo
Papa Penny said joining Mayibuye gave him a platform to better serve communities in Limpopo, the province from which he hails and where his cultural influence runs deep. As the artist behind some of the most beloved Xitsonga songs in South African music history, Penny commands significant recognition and affection across Limpopo’s communities. His political profile in the province was built on that cultural foundation, and his move to a party that has identified Limpopo as a key target for the 2026 local government elections is strategically significant for Mayibuye.
Shivambu’s Ambitions for the 2026 Elections
Shivambu used the media briefing to outline Mayibuye’s ambitious plans for the 2026 local government elections scheduled for 4 November 2026. He confirmed that the party plans to contest all 4,488 wards in the country and will develop municipality-specific manifestos tailored to the particular challenges and needs of each area. He stressed that the party preferred to be referred to as Mayibuye rather than by its full name, the Afrika Mayibuye Movement.
Shivambu said the party would consult traditional leaders, churches and community organisations in selecting its councillors and shaping its policy positions, and added firmly that Mayibuye would not recycle failed councillors and mayors from other parties. The party’s stated priority areas include water shortages, informal settlement upgrading, local government reform, healthcare and job creation.
In a pointed message to the ruling party, Shivambu said Mayibuye had already written to President Cyril Ramaphosa and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa about what he described as crisis levels of water insecurity affecting communities across the country.
A Party Growing Fast
The Afrika Mayibuye Movement was founded by Shivambu following his dismissal from the MK Party in June 2025. Shivambu has claimed that the movement grew in its first four months to a level that the EFF, the party he helped found, took nearly a decade to reach. That claim has been disputed by political analysts, but the party’s ability to attract high-profile defections from both the MK Party and other formations suggests it has established genuine momentum ahead of its first electoral contest.
Papa Penny’s arrival follows other notable additions to the Mayibuye ranks and adds a cultural dimension to the movement’s appeal in Limpopo that no amount of political messaging alone could replicate.
Editors Note All information in this article is based on official Afrika Mayibuye Movement communications and media reports from the 20 May 2026 media briefing. Mzansi Today Live will update this article as further information becomes available.