The new hero or the old foe? The EFF turns 10

23 June 2023

On few topics has as much been written in South African media over the last decade as on the party of Julius Malema, and indeed of mister Malema himself. While many have taken the view that the EFF is no more than the left wing of the ANC, an analysis of its root ideology begs to differ. Especially when Malema’s speech at Marikana, which might well be viewed as the genesis of the EFF, is read alongside its very first constitution, it becomes clear that the EFF is not simply the louder, lefter or more Leninist wing of the ANC, it is, and hopes to increasingly become, something completely different.

Leaving Luthuli-house

After various warnings, Julius Malema’s singing ‘Kill the Boer’ in 2010 finally led to a temporary and later a permanent suspension from the ANC. For Malema, who had cast himself in the role of struggle hero, such a banishment from the hitherto vehicle of struggle heroes presented only a temporary setback. His return to the political arena would ultimately defy his former employers, and present him with the opportunity to define himself.

The Marikana Moment

Malema arrived at Marikana on the 18th of August 2012, two days after the horrific deaths of 34 mineworkers. While his party would not officially be launched for another ten months, this is the moment when he first steps into a new role. In his Marikana speech Malema does not only console or blame, he opens a new chapter in South African struggle ideology, one where the erstwhile liberators become the murderers, and more importantly, one where a new hero arises to unite and to liberate.

His approach is simple enough: He selects from the ANC’s history those characters that fit his view of the struggle in South Africa, he names and shames contemporary leaders of the ANC, and finally he presents himself as the new face of the struggle.

It is customary for comrades who read, or at least quote Lenin from time to time, to start a speech with the words “Power to the people”. In South Africa we know this as the cry of “Amandla awethu” – at least in this, Malema does not break with tradition during his Marikana speech. The next part of the revolutionary speech is usually the appraisal of leaders with the chant of “long live”, and it is at this point that Malema’s recasting of the struggle begins. He shouts “Long live Peter Mokaba, Long Live” followed by “Long live Oliver Tambo, long live.”

Why them? Why, from the ANC’s vast list of leaders and heroes, pick these two leaders? Tambo, notably, was President of the ANC during President Mandela’s time in prison, which makes him the last leader before negotiations for democracy started, when it is considered that Malema would later called Mandela “staged” and “managed”, this selection makes sense. Peter Mokaba was the first ANC Youth leader after readmission in South Africa, a radical, just as Malema was, who authored the chant ‘Kill the Boer, Kill the Farmer’ in 1993 at the memorial service of Chris Hani.

After the heroes and muses were praised, Malema moves into an insulting gear, taking aim at ANC top brass. After shouting “Down with Jacob Zuma, down”, Malema goes on to say “these people who work in television and radio do not mention that Cyril Ramaphosa is one of the shareholders of this mine … The reason the workers were killed is because there is a highly connected political figure in that mine.”

He would follow this by outright rejecting the authority of the ANC, albeit momentarily, by advising “From today when asked who is your president’, you must answer, saying ‘I don’t have a president.’” The liberators had become murderers, they had been exposed as false heroes, false prophets who had abandoned the true struggle.

With this bit of housekeeping done, all that Malema must do is jump into the saddle that he had just cleared. He starts by picking up the mantle: ‘comrades, those who died should know that we will continue with a struggle, and their fight will remain our fight.’ Not only will the fight continue, “we” will continue with it. His final call to action confirms this “You must never retreat, even in the face of death.”

From Marxism-Leninism to Fanonism: The 2014 Constitution

Following its 2013 declaration, the EFF in 2014 adopted its constitution, wherein it became crystal clear that it was by no means simply a rebirth of the ANC. This party had other ideas, and not just ideas that the ANC might once have had, these were different ideas, based on different philosophy. In the preamble of its constitution, the EFF calls itself ‘radical’ and ‘militant’, which might not be altogether a break with what the ANC might once have thought. The difference comes in how radicalism is understood.

While the ANC had been influenced by Marxism and Leninism at least since banned members of the Communist Party joined the ANC in the early 1950’s, the EFF names Fanonism along with Marxism and Leninism. Fanonism, based on the works of twentieth century decolonial thinker Franz Fanon, takes a radically intolerant stance on minorities. Where the ANC had periodically stated that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it”, Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth, a favourite of the EFF, understands decolonialism to mean the ‘substitution of one species of mankind by another.’

With regards to cooperation between members of different races, Fanon simply advises: “For the native, life can only spring up again out of the rotting corpse of the settler.” In Fanon the EFF found a basis for differentiation between racial groups, allowing the party to move away from the ANC policy of non-racialism, and while many of his apologists would beg for a metaphorical or figurative reading of Fanon, anyone who has spent time with his work would quickly have come to realise that it is no more figurative than that hateful song “Kill the Boer.”

This decade has seen the EFF pull the entire political narrative to the left, it has seen destruction and drama. Many would argue that these antics were simply the result of a young party, speaking its mind, and debating robustly. Such a position is not only naïve, it is dangerous, it refuses to take this party’s bona fide beliefs seriously. All political parties crave attention, even that found in notoriety, but with the EFF this craving is enhanced by an inherently divisive mindset which can achieve nothing but to burn bridges and to break bonds.

This opinion has been reworked from a section of the following academic article.