MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela has accused former secretary-general Floyd Shivambu of wanting to take over the party from within, saying he has been working to infiltrate and destroy it since he joined last year.

This comes after Shivambu announced plans to form a new political party, following his removal as MK Party secretary-general due to visiting fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri's church in Malawi.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Ndhlela said Shivambu was in the party to destroy it.

“This individual was trying to take over the party, so this man was just here to destroy the party, nothing else,” Ndhlela said. “Either he was going to destroy it or take it over.”

Ndhlela said Shivambu drafted the party's constitution to give himself excessive powers and deploy his own people in provincial structures to further his own agenda.

“The sad thing about it is that at the time he joined the party, we could already tell that this person is an agent. It was clear because if you look at how he drafted the constitution, he took all the powers of the secretary-general and gave it to himself as the national organiser.”

Ndhlela criticised Shivambu's behaviour, saying he would often look down on others and make himself superior.

“He was looking down on people, talking down on people. People would think that we are not normal, that we are fighting this person, but it's because he was bringing tendencies to the party that are alien to us,” Ndhlela said.

He said Shivambu was allowed into the party to advance the agenda of changing the lives of South Africans. However, it would be a problem if anyone came into the party with intentions that are not aligned with the party.

“Many of them have tried, and many of them will continue to try, but it won't work. We gave him a platform, we welcomed him, made him part of the family, but all he could dish us was just a plate of faeces. He's a wounded buffalo unfortunately, that's what was happening, and wounded buffaloes are dangerous.”

Ndhlela said the party couldn't take action against Shivambu sooner because they had to play for time.

“In situations like this, we need to manage the dynamics differently. We allowed it knowing very well, so we could see exactly what his plans were and who his people are, and he showed his hand. He showed his hand with the kind of people he was deploying in the structures in the provincial detachments, and that's what we wanted to know, because otherwise you can never root out elements of infiltration if you don't have a proper understanding of who's who. We had to understand and let it play out.”

In a recent interview with eNCA, Shivambu accused Ndhlela of taking drugs and always being high on alcohol. Shivambu also alleged that there was an intelligence report taken to party leader Jacob Zuma by Ndhlela. However Ndhlela said the intelligence report was actually transcripts between Shivambu and people in Malawi talking about using Zuma's daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla's hat to bewitch her.

“He was using all sorts of ways and means to try to hijack the party. Whether it is black magic, and it's true, he did go and do those things. He never disputed them in the meeting.”

Ndhlela has vowed to take legal action against Shivambu over his allegations, saying, “I'm not going to leave this. I’m not a druggy. I'm going to take it further.”

The MK Party has not yet commented on Shivambu's future in the party, but Ndhlela indicated they will communicate soon about his status.