A war of words has erupted between Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula, Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) president Kebby Maphatsoe and its spokesperson Carl Niehaus.

This comes amid an expected march on Monday by the MKMVA to the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters at Luthuli House as well as the office of Gauteng Premier David Makhura.

In a statement, the MK vets said the march will be held to highlight the plight of the poor, corruption, forgotten freedom fighters, a demand for the arrest of apartheid killers and for the arrest of Mbalula for the damaged railway network, among other things.

This led to Mbalula going off on a tangent on social media, calling Maphatsoe a coward and Niehaus a criminal.

Mbalula then tweeted that Maphatsoe ran away from ANC military camps, alleging that he had lost his hand due to cowardice.

Maphatsoe hit back, calling out Mbalula's "arrogance".

"He thinks he is a leader of a gang. His arrogance is unbearable. He has been insulting us for a long time and we have been quiet. Since Mbalula came in as transport minister, he removed rail security and as a result it has cost [the] economy of the country," Maphatsoe said about Mbalula.

News24 understands that cancelled private security contracts, which were terminated in April, may be at the heart of this saga, with some accused of having supposed links to the MKMVA being affected by the decision to in-source security for the country's trains.

Reacting to news of the march on social media, Mbalula said: "They organise tired self defence units and they call themselves MK with old Gupta sponsored camouflage uniform its even warn out."

Lambasting Mbalula as "arrogant and incompetent", the MKMVA leader said Mbalula has failed as a minister in all his appointed portfolios.

He said: "He can tweet whatever he likes, it shows that he is panicking. He has been negligent to national key points and we expect the ANC and the president [Cyril Ramaphosa] to act on that. I'm not afraid of Mbalula, but we are not going to talk war with Mbalula. He is a child. He must keep tweeting. There is nothing correct he has done since he became a minister in all his portfolios. He is just messing them up."

Maphatsoe said the march was organised to exert pressure on the ANC government over issues faced by ex-combatants. The MKMVA said their members were suffering under the ANC government as many of them have died of hunger.

He said Makhura should account for his "lax" attitude to corruption, including allegations against former Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku.

On Friday, News24 reported that Makhura had decided to relieve Masuku of his responsibilities based on the findings of a Special Investigating Unit preliminary report. It found that he had failed "to execute his function in compliance with the Constitution and the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA)".

Makhura, however, said he would await a final report to decide on whether or not to reinstate Masuku.

"I never expected that to be done by a comrade Premier. You are in a way saying, 'yes I accept the report but at the end of the day I don't accept that he [Masuku] must leave'. Makhura must abide by [the] decision of [the] SIU, especially when dealing with Covid-19," Maphatsoe said.