Illustrative image, from left: EFF leader Julius Malema. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sharon Seretlo) | MK Party national organiser Floyd Shivambu. (Photo: Gallo Images / Luba Lesolle) | (Illustration: Felix Dlangamandla) 
The gloves are off and the brotherhood is over. EFF leader Julius Malema and his longtime friend Floyd Shivambu, who recently joined the MK party, are now engaged in public spats, marking the end of their friendship. Two recent public speaking events have shown that the relationship between Malema and Shivambu has reached a new low.
A week ago, during a well-handled breakup, Shivambu read a polite resignation letter which he had sent to the EFF’s leadership. Accepting the resignation, Malema equated what he felt when he received the news to what he felt when he heard the news of the passing of his mother.
He was not acting. He was in a sombre mood and appeared as if he had been crying the night before. He wished his brother in the struggle well and even said he was prepared to bend the party’s constitution, which does not allow anyone who resigned from the EFF to return.
The country was in shock at how well the split between the two was handled and conspiracy theories started making rounds that maybe Shivambu’s departure was part of a grand plan between him and Malema or between the two parties, the EFF and MK party.
Malema scorned
That theory was dashed within four days. This was a split, an unplanned one. Malema, while addressing a gathering of party supporters in Orlando, Soweto, launched a volley of attacks on Shivambu, saying he had betrayed him. He asked those who intended to follow Shivambu in leaving the party to do so immediately.
Malema also retracted the offer for Shivambu to return to the party one day.
Hardening his stance, Malema said he was removing all remnants of Shivambu’s influence within the party.
“All powers that belonged to the deputy president will go to the office of the president,” he said.
“Everything associated with the former deputy president shall be dismantled and removed from the EFF immediately. The GTU (extended governance task unit) and all those who served under the deputy president are dissolved.”
Read more: Malema hardens stance on Shivambu, says EFF members with ‘personal agendas’ should leave too
The GTU, which includes leaders from provincial legislatures, municipal councils and the national Parliament whippery, oversees governance work in the EFF.
“We are taking charge of our organisation. We are tired of entrusting in the hands of [the] wrong people, we have been betrayed for too long,” said Malema.
He also announced that secretary general Marshall Dlamini would take over as the party’s chief whip in Parliament, while former spokesperson Sinawo Tambo is returning to the National Assembly to fill the seat vacated by Shivambu. Nazier Paulsen will replace Mzwanele Manyi, who has also joined the MK party.
Not about you
On Thursday, during the briefing at which the MK party announced Shivambu as their national organiser, he responded to Malema with smugness and returned the attacks. He first suggested that parties like the EFF were small, unviable organisations and said this was not sustainable for the future of black people in South Africa. He first put in a disclaimer that he was not characterising the EFF.
“The temptation as well is that when you [have] a multiple of these (small parties) they tend to become a fiefdom of individuals.”
Read more: Shivambu gets key role as national organiser – MK Party announces National High Command
Malema has long been accused of running the EFF as a dictator and narcissist who targets people who either do not agree with him or stand in his way.
Writer, director and artist Mmabatho Montsho, who is EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi’s partner, liked Shivambu’s post on Instagram in which he wrote: “The time comes in the life of any nation where there remain only two choices – fight or submit.”
There were speculations that Ndlozi might be the next to jump ship and join Zuma’s new party. Malema said there was a practical way to see where some of the members stood – by looking at what the people close to them stood for.
“How can someone say the decision to join MK party is the best decision ever taken and my wife Mantwa is the first person to like such a thing and you say Julius Malema is with us when the partner likes the things that seek to denounce the organisation.”
Shivambu took a dig at Malema, suggesting that he made it all about himself.
“Revolution is the content of what we are standing for,” he said.
“Some people were saying, ‘You’re betraying me.’ Where does that enter? You do not even once suggest that I am betraying the revolution. I will never betray the revolution,” he said to a cheering crowd of MK Party members.
“We are not in the business of trying to please each other’s egos here. We are in the business of building a revolutionary movement that is going to emancipate the black majority and Africans in particular.”
EFF at a crossroads
EFF supporters on social media quickly criticised Shivambu following his address.
Taking to X, EFF supporter Sinawo Thambo claimed Shivambu, who established the EFF with Malema, only claimed the party was a “fiefdom” after it struggled in the 29 May elections.
You establish an organization, and then have the audacity to insinuate that it is suddenly a small and unviable “fiefdom”, after our first, small decline at polls?
This was the insinuation, the disclaimer is worth nothing.
You further claim loyalty to revolution, yet at the…
— Sinawo Thambo (@Sinawo_Thambo) August 22, 2024
EFF Student Command president Sihle Lonzi said Shivambu’s move was a “betrayal of principle”.
The Betrayal of Floyd is tantamount to, if not worse than betrayal of Revolution.
It’s Betrayal of Principle.
It’s abandoning a revolutionary path you committed yourself to, and convinced others to join you on.
It’s cowardice, intellectual dishonesty and political bankruptcy! https://t.co/aEGPMxIuXQ
— Sihle Lonzi (@SihleLonzi) August 22, 2024
Both Malema and Shivambu have reaffirmed their commitment to getting the Progressive Caucus in Parliament to be a force to be reckoned with as it will play the role of the opposition outside the GNU. However, it remains to be seen if the recent developments will not hamper that goal.
The EFF stands at a critical moment as it deals with Shivambu’s exit, which might lead to more votes lost if it can’t get its act together.
The public spats between party leaders and the recent surge of insults among supporters on social media signal deep divisions that could alienate voters. The EFF’s failure to show a united front could weaken its sway and shake its base’s trust. DM