A decision by the EFF to sack more than 90 of its senior leaders and councillors will have dire repercussions at next year’s general elections in KwaZulu-Natal.
According to several leaders of the red berets, who spoke to Sunday World this week, the party will find it hard to convince voters that it stands for poor people.
“A decision by the central command team [CCT] was an own goal,” said one party leader who declined to be named.
“You cannot punish people because they are poor, but at the same time claim that you represent them.”
The CCT, the party’s biggest decision-making body, ordered that councillors and members of National Assembly and provincial legislatures should vacate their positions for failing to provide buses to ferry supporters to the party’s 10th anniversary in Johannesburg in July.
About 200 senior leaders were given marching orders by the EFF commander in chief, Julius Malema.
The party’s decision affected 94 councillors and two MPs. One of the affected is senior leader and long-serving EFF member Vusi Khoza, who had been deployed as an MP.
However, while the party members have been recalled from their positions, they continue to serve as ordinary members.
In a confidential letter seen by Sunday World, EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini orders that the affected members should vacate their positions within 24 hours upon receipt of the letter.
“The organisation has received and considered your response and has found the same to be unsatisfactory,” reads the letter.
“Section 14[9] of the EFF constitution states that ‘the CCT has the powers to recall any deployees of the organisation from any position of deployment including deployment as public representatives’.”
Another leader explained that the decision was harsh and uncalled for.
“For me, it’s more about timing. We will go to next year’s elections as a divided party,” said the leader who also refused to be identified.
“Remember that there are members who are still angry that we recalled some of our comrades as deputy mayors.”
In January, the EFF ordered that all deputy mayors who served in coalitions with the IFP relinquish their positions following sour relations between the two parties.
Scores of party members who were aggrieved by the decision subsequently formed a splinter grouping, the African Economic Freedom, which was launched recently.
Another senior leader in the province said several regions have raised concerns about the party’s latest move.
“I won’t be surprised if we lose some of our key leaders to other parties,” he said.
“Remember there’s also an issue of eThekwini metro where KZN did not approve of supporting the ANC to govern municipality, but they were coerced by national.”
The EFF support has been growing substantially in KwaZulu-Natal over the years. In 2021, it was one of the kingmakers in several hung councils in the province.
Provincial EFF secretary Nkululeko Ngubane did not want to comment about the party’s electoral prospects.
“This was a decision taken by the central command team and as the province we cannot comment about it,” said Ngubane.
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