Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)’s co-founder, Floyd Shivambu, has resigned from the EFF, and joined Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party. The resignation is a blow to the EFF, months after South Africa’s 7th democratic election that saw EFF’s vote declining from 11% in 2019, to 10%. At the press conference, Julius Malema looked devasted by Shivambu’s resignation.
Shivambu was one of the very important leaders in the EFF, and his departure will wound the party. It’s likely that there are EFF members who will follow him. Mzwanele Manyi has followed Shivambu to the MK Party.
But what should we make of this significant development in the EFF, in the context of South Africa’s national politics? Well, if you want South Africa to achieve racial unity, social cohesion, increased freedoms, then pray for the decline and collapse of the EFF. That’s my advice to you.
Listening to EFF leaders over the years has been distressing. The EFF is a political movement founded on the principles of hate, racism, discrimination, and total disregard for human liberties.
The party’s leader, Julius Malema, the toxic firebrand, has over the past years made several malicious comments against South Africa’s minorities. These comments were widely condemned by civil rights organisations and South Africans at large.
From his utterances that he was prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma in 2008, when he was still in the African National Congress (ANC), to saying that they (the EFF) will remove the current government through the barrel of a gun.
Malema and his party believe the government should nationalise the banking industry, businesses, mines, take peoples’ properties by force, and so much more that violates human rights and would undermine South Africa’s young democracy.
That a party so rotten – the EFF – sits in our legislature is an embarrassment, and underscores a much deeper, unsettling problem about South Africa. This problem is lack of political education amongst South African voters, and very limited understanding of global economic and political history.
The ideas that Malema and his party sell as a solution to South Africa’s socioeconomic problems, have been tried before in many countries around the world, and they failed dismally. Even today they are still being tried in countries like Venezuela, North Korea, and Cuba. And guess what? All these countries are poor, and ruled by despots who repress civil liberties and muzzle the press.
For decades, the Soviet Union experimented with EFF’s ideas – to very limited prosperity coupled with political repression.
The government in the Soviet Union decided everything in the economy: What to produce. When to produce it. By whom. At what price it should be sold and bought. The government planning committee that was known as Gosplan supervised all the aspects of economic activity. Even television programs were under government’s control in the Soviet Union – and were all communist propaganda.
During this era in the Soviet Union, millions were murdered under communist oppression – by their governments. It’s estimated that 20 million people were killed in the Soviet Union alone. Add to that the other millions killed in other communist regimes around the world, you have a total estimate of 94 million people killed in the 20th century, under this repressive political system.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation has devoted itself to remembering victims of communism; documenting their pain, and teaching the world about the dangers of communism.
In his piece published in the Daily Signal, writing about a despicable book, titled Communism For Kids, Jarrett Stepman writes that violence or use of force is a feature in a communist political system, not a bug.
Stepman is right. People tend to resist government’s seizure of their assets in a communist system, the government then uses the military or police to enforce its policies. The result is horror.
Malema and his EFF have, many times, shown what South Africa would look like if they were to get into power. Look at their rage, and the turmoil they have caused at the parliament over the past decade. Look at the criminal land grabs they have committed. Look at their previous hateful utterances aimed at South Africa’s minorities. Look at their VBS Mutual Bank corruption. The signs are clear, and terrifying.
The EFF coming to power, would be the biggest setback since the end of apartheid. Their rule would be characterized by racism, government theft, violence, censorship of the press, skyrocketing political imprisonments, disappearance of political activists, and many other violations of human rights.
One very important thing we should remember though, is that leaders of the EFF did not get themselves into our parliament – they were voted by the people of South Africa. That reality suggests the problem is much deeper and has to do with our politically undereducated society that votes for the dangerous EFF.
The EFF scares me. You should be scared too. This party is a complete disgrace to South Africa.
South Africa needs real, sustainable policies that will grow the economy, create jobs, and end poverty. Not EFF’s destructive dogma. Hence, with the departure of Shivambu and Manyi, let’s pray the party collapses.
At some point in future, the MK Party will also implode. Anything run by power hungry, radical socialists doesn’t last. The infighting will ensue. There’s no concrete structure in the MK Party. It’s a party centred around Zuma – just like EFF is centred around Malema. Without Zuma MK disappears. Without Malema EFF disappears. There’s no strong foundation in these parties. Hence, there is a high probability that Shivambu miscalculated by joining the MK. Time will tell.
Phumlani M. Majozi is author of a new book “Lessons from Past Heroes” and a macroeconomist and political analyst. He’s the host of The Phumlani Majozi Show on YouTube. Subscribe to his show here: Phumlani M. Majozi - YouTube.
