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Mngxitama vs. the EFF: Has the pot been calling the kettle counter-revolutionary?

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Gushwell F. Brooks is an LLB graduate from the University of the Witwatersrand. He did not go on to become an attorney, but much rather entered the corporate rat race. After slaving away for years, he found his new life as a talk show host for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk.

Allegations of financial impropriety in the EFF raise some interesting questions about pots and kettles in the South African political landscape. South Africans’ unfettered party loyalty is certainly being tested at present, where party diehards from across the spectrum are having to face difficult questions being asked of their representatives. But as cool as our unwavering support might be for political leaders and their parties, one thing is certain when we allow ourselves blind loyalty: we get short-changed in the end.

Conspiracy theories abound surrounding Andile Mngxitama’s recent need to ‘out’ the leadership of the Economic Freedom Fighters. The fact that Mngxitama chose to call a press conference on the most talked-about day for 2015 – 12 February, the day of the much-anticipated SONA – seems to add credence to the suspicion surrounding his sudden urge to inform the nation of the financial impropriety within the EFF. Add to the melee: assaults, gun wielding, assassination plots and a claim that the ANC paid R100 million to destroy the EFF, and you have a story so bizarre that its ridiculousness would sound like the tall tales of someone on a bad acid trip, were it not for the lengthy newspaper trail archiving this sordid, political epic. It is easy to get lost in the dirty laundry, but what is truly remarkable about all these events is the political déjà vu that emerges.

What Mngxitama’s motivation might be is of no real concern to anyone else but staunch members of the red beret and overall; the radical party. But the consequences of his ‘outing’ expose an interesting state of affairs in relation to politics and our personal relationship with political parties. Of greater significance is the apparent hypocrisy of the politically active. They accuse their political foes of one or the other offence, whereas they themselves are guilty of the exact same crime.

Mngxitama’s first press briefing occurred hours before the EFF were to interrupt the State of the Nation Address with questions and inevitable chants of “Pay back the money!” Mngxitama, and another of his cohorts, Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala, gathered reporters in the Cape Sun hotel for a noon press conference, where they outlined why they would not be demanding that Zuma “Pay back the money” at SONA. The press conference failed to reach completion, though, as angry EFF Western Cape Caucus members chased Mngxitama as the accursed pariah he now is.

Mngxitama had a second bite at the apple when he called another press conference five days later, coincidentally, on another extremely important day in our Parliamentary calendar; the day on which the opposition would be able to debate the content of Zuma’s SONA. At this press briefing the suspended Mngxitama and Litchfield-Tshabalala were joined by two other concerned EFF members, Mpho Ramakatsa and Lucky Twala. Their claims at this briefing were even more sensational, with allegations of an assassination plot against Mngxitama and alleged misuse of party funds by EFF leadership – Malema and Shivambu in particular. Journalists, political analysts and the EFF alike have been waiting for the evidentiary bombshell to drop, but all Mngxitama had to say in response to the eagerly awaited proof was: “We have proof of allegations made today but we’ve been advised not to send it to the media.”

Before this press briefing was supposed to kick off, scuffles broke outside the Sandton hotel where it was being held. EFF Parliamentarian, Diliza Twala, was spotted pointing a firearm at the crowd gathered outside, amongst them journalists. He apparently felt the need to do this, as he feared things might turn violent – guns always defuse violent situations, as we all know. Anyway, the press briefing ended, leaving everyone underwhelmed but for the gun-toting.

So as a Mngxitama versus Malema faction within the EFF is supposedly being formed, everyone has taken a stab at trying to say who and what is behind the revolt. Intellectuals ascribe the friction to Freedom Charter policy politics versus Andile’s rejection thereof, whereas everyone from Gayton McKenzie and his BFF, Kunene, have been blamed, and the establishment of a secret ANC R100 million slush fund to destroy the EFF has also been thrown into the mix. But all these allegations, accusations and rumours muddy the real issues.

Our loyalty to political parties is almost unparalleled in South Africa. This unfettered loyalty is not confined by class; race or any of the other boxes into which we tend to pack ourselves. Party diehards from across the spectrum lose their minds when you criticise their political party or its leadership, even just a little. But as cool as our unwavering support might be for political leaders and their parties, we get short-changed in the end. Our unreserved loyalty leaves them thinking and acting as they please, feeling little accountability towards us – their employers – and they remain in power.

How does it profit anyone to supposedly plot the stabbing of Mngxitama, if he is the very person that claims he is about to expose the mismanagement of party funds and that he is on a mission to “rid the EFF of ANC influences”? Surely a party that bases its entire ideology on the fight of the working class for economic freedom – to the extent that they dress up to Parliament by wearing their signature domestic worker uniforms and red overalls – not to mention their persistent outcry against the ruling party and the president’s corruption and misappropriation of funds – cannot justify turning a deaf ear to Mngxitama’s allegations.

If his allegations are in fact baseless, then the EFF and its implicated leadership should easily be able to disprove these. Litchfield-Tshabalala’s call for a lifestyle audit should be welcomed as a party run with integrity, by leaders with fortitude, should have no trouble proving that Floyd’s alleged Porsche and lifestyle is supported by Parliamentary salaries and acceptable perks. To this day, even with their impressive voice on the South African political scene, many still view the EFF leadership with suspicion. Their National Assembly theatrics, especially those of Malema and Shivambu, leave many thinking that it is naught but an insincere parody to garner voter support.

Of more importance has been the response, or the lack thereof, from the EFF regarding the violence that ended Mngxitama’s first press briefing and the confrontation leading up to the second. Despite the four suspended members’ “failure to address their concerns internally”, the EFF should have surely condemned their members’ violent action or at the minimum, strongly discouraged it. Instead Malema and company have remained mum on the issue and the four outcasts find themselves suspended with internal party disciplinary processes pending.

Internal party discipline within the EFF is hardly the domain of an outsider to critique, but it raises one interesting question: did Malema and Shivambu not find themselves in a similar predicament before their unceremonious exit from the ANC? Did they not speak out against party leadership only to find themselves subjected to disciplinary proceedings for bringing the party into disrepute? Interestingly, these are the very same charges, the suspended four faces.

If President Zuma is expected to answer questions of financial impropriety under his watch – and rightly so – should we not have the same expectations of Malema and Shivambu when these questions are asked of them? How do they chant “pay back the money” when they silence those that bring the allegations? Assuming that they correctly feel that these untested allegations do not have to be answered, a condemnation of violence by party members, protecting the ‘honour’ of their leadership, would be remotely appropriate. Failing such, it would seem that the Commander-in-Chief of the EFF has learnt a thing or two from Number One. DM

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