The EFF will be maintaining its strategic alliance MK Party in Parliament regardless of the rocky relationship between the two parties. Jacob Zuma’s MK Party has antagonised the EFF with its recent poaching of high-ranking leaders from the ranks of the red beret brigade.
The EFF chief whip in Parliament, Marshall Dlamini, told Sunday World in an interview that the party will not rush into any premature decisions regarding their role within the Progressive Caucus.
“Where things stand, we are in the Progressive Caucus; it is limited to the work we do in Parliament,” Dlamini said.
Addressing the departures to the MK, he explained, “We are not the leadership that throws tantrums every time we have a challenge. We will assess the matter as time goes on, but we cannot be an organisation where every time there is an event, we change what we have decided.”
The Progressive Caucus represents 102 seats (25.5%) in the National Assembly and includes the MK Party, EFF, the African Transformation Movement, the National Coloured Congress and the United African Transformation.
This week, the red berets suffered another blow when their former chairperson, Dali Mpofu, announced that he would leave the party to join Zuma’s MK Party.
Mpofu has represented the MK Party in various court cases since its inception. He represented the party against the ANC for using the name of the former governing party’s anti-apartheid paramilitary wing.
His legal team also defended Zuma following complaints about his inclusion in the MK Party’s parliamentary list, despite having partially served his jail sentence for contempt of court.
EFF president Julius Malema mentioned in the party’s podcast on Thursday that he was privy to Mpofu’s intention to leave the organisation.
He mentioned a meeting that was held by political parties ahead of the 2024 elections, where Mpofu suggested that all parties be dissolved to form one strong opposition party under Zuma’s leadership.
Malema explained that former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, another member who has since joined the MK Party, refused this proposal.
“Dali made a presentation of a paper where he said the EFF must close down with the other parties and then form something under Zuma’s leadership. Floyd said, ‘No way, it is not going to happen.’ He was shocked that Dali was not only proposing it but had written it down and has had time to think about it,” Malema said.
When asked why the party allowed Mpofu to continue being a member of the EFF after making the proposal, Dlamini explained that it is up to members to decide whether they want to be part of the organisation or not.
“We do not have to do anything. You know, in parties we voluntarily join, and we voluntarily leave, so even if someone has a feeling, you leave them,” he explained.
Some of the prominent EFF members who have left the party for Zuma’s MK Party include Mzwanele Manyi, former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and prominent businessman-cum-politician Magasela Mzobe, while former Limpopo leader Joseph “Jossey” Buthane left to join the ANC.
