'Harassment' and 'death threats': Fees Must Fall activist accuses EFF of abuse

Fees Must Fall activist and former EFF member Bonginkosi Khanyile is crying foul over alleged harassment and death threats from party secretary-general Marshall Dlamini and president of the party’s student command Mandla Shikwambana. 

The accusation is contained in an open letter to Dlamini, which TimesLIVE has seen along with screenshots of threatening text messages and tweets. 

A message sent to Khanyile, allegedly by Dlamini, reads: “You must stop going around attacking the EFF through me as the SG. I promise I will find you and you'll meet your maker. You are a small boy.”

Khanyile said he was puzzled by the message considering he had not spoken to Dlamini in months.

His assumption was that Dlamini was angered by his recent support of Operation Dudula, with which the EFF was recently at loggerheads. 

“He is the SG and he is the one that has been mobilising members of the EFF and declared me an enemy,” Khanyile told TimesLIVE. 

EFF spokesperson Sinawo Tambo dismissed Khanyile’s claims as attempts to stay relevant. He also denied the activist had been threatened by Dlamini or other EFF leaders. 

“We couldn’t care less what a former member has to say about the EFF. The EFF SG and the president of the student command have threatened no-one, attacked no-one, and no baseless attempt or act of victimhood will make such claims a reality,” he said. 

Last month, Dlamini tweeted that former EFF members like Khanyile “who have joined the ranks of our enemies, should be treated as our enemies. Fighters, have zero mercy when confronting your enemies”.

This followed Khanyile’s backing of Operation Dudula and its leader Nhlanhla 'Lux' Dlamini, who was arrested in connection with the alleged ransacking of a Soweto home belonging to EFF member Victor Ramerafe. 

The party had accompanied Ramerafe to open a criminal case against him at the Dobsonville police station. 

During the same period, Shikwambana said “people who are former members of the EFF Students Command like Bonginkosi [Khanyile] who go around speaking nonsense about our leadership must be attended [to]”. 

He also claimed people were being paid to attack party leadership, “let’s attack them guerrilla-style”.

Khanyile enjoyed the support of the EFF at the height of the Fees Must Fall protest and said he had been a card-carrying member of the party until the relationship soured. 

“I was a member of the EFF but, I guess I was chased out and it was confirmed by an SG that I’m an ex-member of the EFF. When the secretary-general says that, that is the position. I never terminated my membership,” said Khanyile. 

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