EFF's lifeline heading to its third NPA
Born, bred and buttered in 2013, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) founded by Julius Malema which took a leftist, radical stance, promoting economic emancipation, will be heading to its elective conference with Malema still the president and without it’s founding deputy president, Floyd Shivambu.
The EFF was formed first as a movement and later a political party, after the ANC expelled Malema. He was the president of the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) when he was given the boot. Malema, Shivambu and others formed the EFF and they took on the ANC head on in the 2014 national elections, acquiring 6.35% of the vote.
Malema is in charge of the Central Command Team (CTT), the party’s equivalent of the ANC’s NEC, the highest decision making body of the party between conferences.
The EFF is currently the National Assembly’s fourth-largest party at the moment, behind the ANC, DA and MK Party.
Foundation and History of the EFF (2013 – 2024)
2013 – Malema announced at a press conference in Soweto on July 26, 2013, that the EFF now had over 1,000 members, surpassing the 500-member threshold for IEC registration.
Following the dismissal of the Freedom Front Plus’s September 2013 objection, the party was formally registered.
2014 – EFF contests the 2014 general elections and records 6.35% of the vote – or 4.09 million votes.
The EFF dismissed MPs Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, Andile Mngxitama, and Mpho Ramakatsa in 2015 and suspended MP Lucky Twala.
Litchfield-Tshabalala joined the United Democratic Movement (UDM), and Mngxitama went on to create the Black First Land First (BLF).
Malema has been accused of using an iron fist to rule the party and eradicating opponents in order to increase his authority.
In response to this criticism, he said that more members who lacked discipline ought to have been kicked out.
A complaint against former President Jacob Zuma was announced by the EFF on August 6, 2015, as part of their PayBackTheMoney campaign in the Constitutional Court.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng led the court in declaring on February 9, 2016, that Zuma had broken the Constitution and that he had sixty days to follow the recommendations of the then Public Protector Thuli Madonsela at the time.
A motion to amend the Constitution to allow for land expropriation without compensation was filed by the EFF on February 27, 2018.
There were 241 votes in favour of the proposal, only the ACDP, Congress of the People, Freedom Front Plus, and DA opposed it.
The EFF Student Command, the party’s student wing, demonstrated its increasing power ahead of the 2019 general elections by winning significant victory in SRC elections at a number of campuses, notably the University of Cape Town (UCT), in 2018.
In March 2023, the party tried to shut down the entire country in protest at load shedding and to call for the resignation of President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The demonstration was judged unsuccessful, and supporters also disseminated false information.
Due to the participation of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FF+), the EFF refused to join the ANC-led Government of National Unity (GNU) in June 2024.
Shivambu who was the deputy president departed the party in August 2024 to join uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the party of former President Jacob Zuma.
The party will hold its elective conference next week, which is expected to bring about a leadership transition, particularly after a number of high-profile party officials defected to the MKP.
IOL Politics