By Evans Dakwa, News Editor
Johannesburg-The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party is in a chaos following the resignation of founding Deputy President Floyd Shivambu to join the Umkhonto Wesizwe Party in a move that Shivambu has described as ‘the best decision he has ever made’ politically that is.
While Shivambu and his partner in crime for 11 years, Julius Malema presented a semblance of an amicable separation during the press conference in which the former announced his decision to call it quits, undertones of tension were clearly visible with Malema hinting he expected more to follow his Deputy President. It could not have been long before things begin to unravel and yes they are as accusations and counter accusations of selling begin to be thrown around.
When Floyd announced his departure from the party he co-founded, he did not proffer the reasons as to why but his pronouncement after and Julius Malema’s address at the Gauteng Provincial Ground Forces Forum of the EFF tell of a house that has been on fire for too long a time until the fire could not be contained.
At the presser of Shivambu’s departure, Malema said his Deputy is brother to him, whilst visibly shaken by the sudden announcement he maintained a calm demeanour until yesterday when the bubbling lava erupted into a volcano. The EFF front man unleashed long knives at his former deputy accusing him of selling out thus taking all the former deputy’s functions into his office.
“Fighters we must make sure that all our councillors and deployees are disciplined and continued to pursue that which they have been deployed for, the ETU shall fall under the office of the President, and all powers that belonged to the Deputy President will go into the office of the President, and anything else that looks like the former Deputy President shall be dismantled in the EFF and gotten rid of with immediate effect,” said Malema amid wild cheers from those fighting in his corner.
Malema did not stop there but went on to dissolve the Governance Task Unit which was led by Floyd Shivambu.
“The GTU and all those who served under the Deputy President are dissolved. You want to deploy anyone in the EFF, you shall report to the President, we are taking charge of our organisation, we are tired of trusting the wrong people, we have been betrayed for too long, we have been sold out for too long, we have been trusting for too long, we need to take it into our hands and run it ourselves,” he added.
Without mentioning him by name, Malema took aim at the party’s former spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlovu accusing him of selling out after his wife liked Shivambu’s ‘joining MK best decision’ tweet.
With Floyd being a founding member of the EFF and the only Deputy President it has known since inception, it was natural that he would have built a group of sympathisers and followers over the years and many will likely follow him especially with Malema’s purging attitude. Whatever the outcome of the current shenanigans in the EFF it is clearly facing the most trying time of its 11 year existence.