EFF leader Julius Malema lost friends, allies and electoral support in what has proven one of the most difficult years of his political career. Sisanda Mbolekwa looks at six ways in which 2024 was a horrible one for Malema.
Departure of Jossey Buthane to the ANC
The departure of Jossey Buthane, a long-time ally and Limpopo chair of the EFF, was the first blow for Malema in 2024. What made the sting worse was that Buthane returned to the ANC, taking more than 100 EFF members with.
He and Malema had clashed over who was to blame for the EFF’s showing in the 2021 local government elections. Buthane said he was subjected to personal attacks.
“At least there [in the ANC], when you have differences, you still feel safe in an organisation, you don’t feel patronised, you don’t feel attacked in your personal space. You can still differ in the ANC and still be a member in good standing, still enjoy rights and benefits in the organisation.”
Electoral earthquake
The red berets lost their No 3 spot in the political party ranking, dislodged by Jacob Zuma’s MK Party.
The 2024 elections handed Malema his first major setback at the polls. The EFF dropped from 10.8% in 2019 to 9.52% and lost five of its previous 44 seats in parliament.
GNU leaves him out in the cold
The EFF snubbed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s invitation to join the GNU, saying it would not work with parties such as the DA and FF+.
But it seems to be rethinking its strategy. A discussion document circulated at the party’s former national conference last weekend said: “The decision to abstain from participation in the GNU raises the question of whether the EFF should continue this approach or seek other forms of power-sharing agreements that do not compromise its principles.”
Floyd Shivambu defects to MK
Perhaps the most devastating blow for Malema was the collapse of his bromance with another long-time ally, Floyd Shivambu, co-founder of the EFF.
Sometimes this so-called brotherhood thing is not brotherhood. It borders on gangster relationships
— Floyd Shivambu
Shivambu stunned Malema and many others in August when he crossed to the MK Party.
Shivambu said the move was not driven by personal differences with Malema but by his ambition to grow his political career.
“I’ve never in my service of the organisation acted against the organisation’s principles,” he said. “I’ve never compromised my commitment to true emancipation. The organisation should not mischaracterise my revolutionary decision to not renew my membership. Political decisions should never be received as betrayal.”
Shivambu’s departure was all the more shocking because of the close relationship he had had with Malema, dating from their time in the ANC Youth League.
Shivambu made it clear the bromance was over when he said in a podcast: “Sometimes this so-called brotherhood thing is not brotherhood. It borders on gangster relationships that we are together, and we can’t call each other to order even if the person is wrong.”
When silence speaks volumes
Malema hit out at another soon-to-be-former ally in the wake of Shivambu’s defection. Without actually naming EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, he denounced his failure to publicly condemn Shivambu.
“A leader of the EFF who is well-known, who is very popular on social media, television, radio and everywhere else ... The EFF gets under attack and these leaders do not say anything, but because they don’t know where they stand ... There is a practical way to find out where they stand,” Malema told a rally in Soweto.
“Just go and look at where their parents stand, look at where their relatives and spouses stand and you will know that those closest to them are speaking on their behalf because they whispered into their ears.”
Ndlozi was a no-show at last week’s EFF elective conference, with reports that he had been barred from attending.
Malema lost his cool when he was probed over Ndlozi’s absence, rejecting questions about it as “nonsense.”
General exodus to Zumaville
Many leading lights of the EFF took the same route as Shivambu, among them, the party’s national chair, advocate Dali Mpofu, Mzwanele Manyi, and former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
EFF National Council of Provinces member Nolubabalo Mcinga and EFF founding member Alfred Motsi also recently left.
Malema said his party had been infiltrated and was abandoned by founders who became “sleeper agents and double agents who sat among us but reported elsewhere”.
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