After taking a surprise bruising in the May 29 general elections, the EFF’s woes worsened on Thursday with the resignation of Floyd Shivambu, its deputy president.
Shivambu left to join the rival uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, making him the second leader to jump ship. Mzwanele Manyi tendered his resignation last week to join MK, which is led by former president Jacob Zuma.
Manyi has been the official spokesperson for Zuma and the Jacob Zuma Foundation since 2021.
Soon after announcing Shivambu’s resignation at a press conference at the party’s headquarters, EFF leader Julius Malema said he expected more resignations from Shivambu loyalists.
“I know members that are double parking. They’re both members of the EFF and the MK party,” Malema said, adding that the resignations did not mean the end of the EFF.
“There is nothing personal in politics ... If politics was the stock market, it would be volatile.
“There will be many others who are going to leave the EFF because they have their loyalty and support to the deputy president. Fighters on the ground should be prepared for more people to follow and this should not be seen as a point of collapse for the EFF.”
The resignations will weaken an already faltering EFF. In the 2019 elections, the party secured 44 seats in the National Assembly, or 10.79% of the national vote, making it the third largest in parliament.
Five years later it sunk to 39 seats, or 9.52% of the national vote, and was overtaken by MK, which won 58 seats and 14.59% of the vote. The DA, which secured 87 seats, joined the ANC in the government of national unity, making MK the official opposition.
Political analyst Levy Ndou said that as the EFF prepared for its internal leadership contest in December, the general membership could be dissatisfied with the party’s showing at the elections.
“He [Shivambu] might have read that his days are numbered in the EFF ... it might be strategic for him to go to MK so that he can strengthen the prospects of a merger of the EFF and MK,” Ndou said.
While Shivambu’s departure is expected to weaken the EFF, it will be a boost for MK, which is consolidating its support base and building nationwide party structures in preparation for the local government elections in 2026.
He had not yet been assigned any role in the party, but he was expected to be part of its leadership, said MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela.
Shivambu is a founding member of the EFF and has been at its helm since 2013. He left the ANC and the party’s youth league after Malema’s expulsion from the ANC the previous year.
Read Floyd Shivambu's letter of resignation in full here:
As the party’s deputy president and chief whip in parliament, Shivambu was instrumental in taking Zuma to court to force him to pay back a portion of the money used for upgrades at his Nkandla home, and he repeatedly demanded that he step down as president, which Zuma did in 2018.
In his resignation letter, which was handed to the EFF leadership on Wednesday, Shivambu said his membership had lapsed and he would not renew it. He said he would also resign as EFF chief whip in parliament.
“My non-renewal of my membership is not a vote of no confidence in the organisation but it is a revolutionary act that will allow progressive forces to unite and work towards the agenda for progressive and revolutionary change,” the letter stated.
MK said in a statement that Manyi and Shivambu “will further bolster the progressive caucus agenda. [They] will be deployed according to their strengths and expertise”.
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