What do Julius Malema’s EFF and Jacob Zuma’s MK party have in common? A good deal.
Ranging from policies to a nationalist outlook, they both coalesce around a central, dominant figure, questionable ethics and key individuals shrouded in corruption allegations. The list could go on.
However, the most significant intersection between the two is that their political growth depends on extracting the maximal quantity of flesh from a dying ANC carcass. Neither can win if they are eating off what they perceive as the cadaver of the former liberation movement.
This is why former EFF chair Dali Mpofu urged Malema’s party to collapse into the yet-to-be-formed MK, even before its official launch in December last year, at Zuma’s behest.
Malema refused and turned the cog, setting in motion the exodus of EFF top leaders to Zuma’s outfit. It began with the departure of deputy president Floyd Shivambu in August. He is now MK’s “secretary-general”, anointed by uBaba himself.
Mpofu was the latest to jump ship this week. Other “fighters” who joined MK include Zuma’s spin doctor Mzwanele Manyi and former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. More are set to follow.
The EFF’s entanglement with Zuma’s MK is rooted in a pivot in strategy by Malema in the aftermath of the former ANC president’s departure from office in 2018.
Malema and his fledgling EFF played a crucial role in Zuma’s downfall, exposing his malignant brand of politics both in parliament and in the streets. During that period the EFF won the support of large swathes of society, including a significant bloc of voters who have and continue to isolate themselves from the political process: the black middle class.
After that period, Malema faced a stark choice — either push forward with a strategy that proved successful under Zuma, which was to exploit internal ANC factional battles; or forge a new path to build on the support already won and continue growing that solid base.
Malema chose the former and became the external manifestation of the former Zuma or radical economic transformation faction still prominent inside the ANC. From Zuma’s arch-nemesis, Malema and the EFF became the chief defender of the former president and his allies, even launching scathing attacks on the judiciary to do so.
Exploiting internal ANC battles helped the EFF to grow decently in the 2019 election, winning a large share of support in Zuma’s stronghold KwaZulu-Natal. After MK’s formation however, that support base simply returned to its natural home, in the reptilian warmth of Zuma’s embrace.
This culminated in the EFF’s poor performance in the 2024 election. A number of leaders and members may yet jump ship, viewing the EFF as a spent political force and retreating to the comfort of a shiny, new, potentially growing political vehicle.
The EFF again faces a choice in shaping its strategy to turn around its waning political fortunes. It could again choose to become an external player in the ANC’s internal factional fights. These include the simmering battle about the inclusion of the DA in the GNU and the race to succeed President Cyril Ramaphosa, both intrinsically linked battles that are bound to intensify in the run-up to the party’s midterm policy review conference next year.
The EFF could also heed Mpofu and shift its structures to MK to help Zuma expand his reach, beyond KwaZulu-Natal and the isiZulu vote.
Malema is not one to back down in a fight.
“[Zuma] is inviting me back to fight him and I will do it. I am not scared of Zuma. There is no-one that is going to threaten the existence of the EFF and that person becomes a friend,” he said on his party’s podcast. In his years opposing the ANC, the former liberation movement had never sought to destroy the EFF, yet this is what Zuma seeks to do, he added.
A third option is to join the ANC in taking on MK and Zuma and return to his battle with the erstwhile governing party thereafter.
As political strategy goes, it does not appear that Malema has the imagination or the patience to shape the EFF into something more than a splinter party of the ANC through exploiting its internal weaknesses and tap that widening group of disillusioned, eligible voters staying away from the polls.
Further complicating Malema’s plight is that his decision to enter the government after the 2021 election through coalitions has not borne fruit. EFF MMCs have hardly shot out the lights where they were deployed into Gauteng metros in particular. Rather, their deployment exposed party leaders for their inexperience and showed that the EFF was in many instances hardly much of an improvement from the mediocre ANC.
All this means Malema’s options are limited. The aftermath of the EFF’s December national elective conference will provide an indication of which way his party will pivot. Whichever way he chooses, the writing is on the wall for the EFF; that it’s ever-looming ceiling may be fast closing in.
• Marrian is Business Day editor-at-large.
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