Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

12 November 2024

4-minute read

All eyes are on the EFF as leaders leave the party one after the other for the MK.

According to political analyst Waastie Roodt, Malema’s leadership style could possibly be one of the central reasons for the EFF losing so many of its high-profile members. For any political party to succeed, the party has to offer its office bearers a combination of “principle” and “self-interest”, alongside clear vision and policies, while acting in accordance with those policies. Individual members require a road to advancement with sufficient policy clarity and sufficient buy-in into the party’s principles in order for them to remain loyal to the political party.

Dali Mpofu, national chairperson for the EFF for the first term but not the second, is amongst those who have left the party. He was a prominent figure of the EFF, as long as he “kept the party front of mind and was acting in their lane”. In terms of his actual contribution to the EFF, he was less critical of the party than Floyd Shivambu, who was among the first to leave the EFF and join the MK. There is speculation that Mbuyiseni Ndlozi is next to go because of his friction with Malema, as Malema himself stated that he is aware that there are other members who plan to leave the party.

EFF members jumping ship does not bode well for the EFF party, especially for their upcoming elective conference. Waastie cited that because “Malema was the EFF and the EFF was Malema”, the party is not inherently democratic. This not really a democratic election, but rather an election to find out what the leader wants and for factions to push back against that type of leader.

Waastie said that EFF members who leave and join the MK encounter the same problems as “there you find the same party members who blocked your rise in the EFF already taking up positions in MK”.

The EFF has not achieved much and they have no real “valued proposition to voters” and nothing to offer them. Although it seems that the EFF is now in a weakened position in terms of electoral support with a trajectory that does not look good, Waastie believes that things can change suddenly and “one shouldn’t really be in the prediction game if you look at politics”.

Listen to the full interview with Ml Suaimaan Ravat on Sabahul Muslim.