EFF MPLs who have been ordered to resign from their jobs after failing to make it to the provincial command team (PCT) in their respective provinces have threatened to take the party to court over the instalments of bakkies they were forced to buy as tools of their trade.
The MPLs received letters from the EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini on Friday January 27, ordering them to resign from their jobs with immediate effect. This, he said, they should do by writing letters to the offices of the speaker and offices of the chief whip in their respective provinces.
In the letter, Dlamini said the decision was made by the central command team (CCT) on January 27, before the party’s fourth annual plenum held in Gauteng over the weekend.
“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. The 18 Central Command Team of the 2nd National People’s Assembly, on the 27 of January 2023 resolved to recall you from your deployment to the provincial legislature,” reads the letter.
Two MPLs who spoke to Sunday World on condition of anonymity said they will not resign until the party provides them with a solution about the bakkies they were forced to buy.
“All MPLs were forced by the party to buy these bakkies in 2019 , within three months after being sworn into the legislatures . They said they are tools of trade. We have been using these bakkies for party political work since then and we are paying instalments for them. But now that they are chasing us away, how are we going to pay these instalments? They can’t expect us to take our pension funds and pay for these vehicles, what are we going to eat?” asks the MPL.
Another MPL said the organisation should meet them halfway by asking those who will replace them to take over the instalments of these vehicles or help them settle the outstanding balances. “Otherwise, we are not going to resign, we will take them to court,” said the MPL.
Sunday World has been reliably informed that the decision to recall the MPLs will also be communicated at a media briefing in Gauteng today.
“It’s done. They must go. These people are so ungrateful and useless. They don’t add any value to the party,” said an EFF leader who did not want to be named because he is not allowed to speak to the media. He said the EFF recalled them because they want the roles of provincial leaders to be aligned with government responsibilities.
The leader said the MPLs should take their pension funds to settle the outstanding balance of the bakkies. “They have an option to sell them if they can’t keep up with their instalments, it is their asset anyway. The party has no right to tell them what to do with them,” said the leader.
EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo could neither confirm nor deny that they ordered the MPLs to resign.
“The EFF has held a CCT meeting and is currently in a plenum, which will resolve on a variety of organisational issues. At the appropriate moment, those decisions and their implications will be communicated,” he said.
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