EFF's Eastern Cape legislature boss quits two months after conference loss

The Eastern Cape legislature leader of the EFF caucus has quit two months after being beaten at the EFF's provincial people's assembly.

Yazini Tetyana's resignation was announced by the legislature's speaker, Helen Sauls-August, on Wednesday. The resignation comes two months after Tetyana's failed bid to return as EFF party leader in the province.

But Tetyana said him quitting had nothing to do with his party conference defeat. He also insisted that the party's top brass at Winnie Mandela House in Gandhi Square, known for removing those that do not toe the line, did not push him out.

“There is no fire and neither is there smoke around my resignation — no controversy, none whatsoever. It was a decision I took and I asked the party to release me from deployment,” said Tetyana before any question was put to him. 

“I am still a member of the EFF in good standing in ward seven in Mbhashe. Removing yourself from deployment does not mean there is something that pushed you. I am very much active still.

“People must remember that I was not a member of the provincial legislature before I was a member of the EFF but it is the other way around.”

At the EFF's conference in East London, Tetyana fell 33 votes short of getting re-elected as chairperson.

He received 502 votes to Zilindile Vena's 535.

The EC provincial legislature thanked Tetyana for his service.

“We express our gratitude to honourable Tetyana for his commitment to serve people of the Eastern Cape as a public representative and wish him success in his future endeavours,” said Sauls-August.