It’s my party and you'll cry if I want you — Malema’s stranglehold on EFF bodes ill for its future

7 Sep 2023

The decision by the EFF’s Central Command Team to fire 210 of its public representatives shines a spotlight on the party’s internal dynamics. Its leader, Julius Malema, is often seen as the only reason for its existence. But if the party is to survive beyond him, what is happening below its top leadership and how Malema handles that is crucial.

The weekend before last, Julius Malema confirmed that the EFF’s Central Command Team had decided to remove 210 of its public representatives because of their failure to provide a required number of buses and supporters for the party’s 10th-anniversary celebrations in Johannesburg last month.

The EFF says it currently has 1,170 public representatives: 53 MPs, 50 members of provincial legislatures and 1,067 councillors. Removing 210 of them means roughly one-sixth of the party’s public representatives will now change.

It’s a move that presents the EFF with a number of risks. It will lead to disruptions, as new representatives will have to be chosen to replace those axed. The fired representatives may have their own constituencies in the party who are likely to feel that their voice in electing leaders is being ignored.

Additionally, those who now have nothing to lose are likely to be emboldened to speak out about whatever their frustrations with the party and its leadership may be.

Already one MP, Vusi Khoza, has said publicly that the only reason he was losing his status, and the job, was because he represented a poor area that did not have the resources to supply buses.

It’s not the first time disgruntled former members have spoken out against the party leadership.

A senior EFF leader who was removed from his position responded by saying publicly that Malema and EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu had admitted to taking money from the VBS bank.

And in an astonishing case two years ago, a former Central Command Team (CCT) member, Thembinkosi Rawula, posted on Facebook that Malema and Shivambu had said in a CCT meeting that sometimes “you have to kiss dogs or the devil to get money” for the party.

When Malema sued him for defamation, the Supreme Court of Appeal rejected his application. Astonishingly, Rawula did not have money for legal representation and yet still won his case against the top advocate representing Malema, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-06-24-corruption-sans-frontieres-supreme-court-of-appeal-teaches-malema-an-important-lesson-about-lying-corruption/

‘Do as I say or you’re out’

Malema’s current actions open the door for internal criticisms to become public, making it harder for the leader to control the narrative.

At the same time, the decision to remove so many public representatives in one fell swoop reveals a major problem in the EFF — the huge turnover in caucuses is never a good thing for any party.

As Gareth van Onselen pointed out back in 2019, 61% of the party’s MPs did not finish their five-year term in Parliament. While that could be explained as the birth pains of a new party, for something similar to happen again suggests a pattern of, “Do as I say or you’re out”.

This gets to the heart of the identity of the EFF — is it a party simply based on the identity and public comments of Malema, or can it outlast his leadership?

No one has ever stood against him for the position of EFF leader, which prompted Justice Minister Ronald Lamola to claim Malema was trying to “replace the institutions with a personality cult, such as the supreme leader of the EFF where only one person thinks, speaks and acts on behalf of the entire organisation”.

Malema himself appears to confirm this.

Speaking at the banquet ahead of the EFF’s tenth-anniversary celebrations this year, he told guests (including the deputy head of the SAPS Police Crime Intelligence Unit, Major-General Feroz Khan), “I am very ruthless against such people who organise things against me, so never try that with me…”

This suggests that Malema will not allow anyone to democratically contest against him in the EFF. For those who believe in hubris, it would suggest that he could, one day, cause the death of the party he started.

However, there are other parts of the picture.

Through working agreements with the ANC in big metros like Joburg and Ekurhuleni, EFF councillors now hold important positions which give them a much higher public profile and could lead to voters recognising EFF members outside of the top leadership.

Two examples stand out.

The first is the EFF’s Gauteng leader, Nkululeko Dunga. In his position as the member of the mayoral committee for finance in Ekurhuleni, Dunga regularly comments in the broadcast media about governance issues in that metro.

The second is the MMC for public safety in Joburg, Mgcini Tshwaku. He has spoken in public about the Joburg gas explosion and the violence surrounding illegal mining in that city. The holder of a PhD in Chemical Engineering, Tshwaku gives the impression he is able to fight for the rights of Joburg residents.

This suggests that the EFF is gathering important experience in governance.

The question is: Will Malema allow others in the party to shine in the public spotlight? He is the only person with the power to ensure that the EFF builds a strong cadre of people who could lead it in the future and it is entirely up to him whether the EFF survives beyond him. DM

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‘Do as I say or you’re out’