'I'd never join any voice to write Malema off': Mbuyiseni Ndlozi after resigning from EFF

Former EFF member Mbuyiseni Ndlozi says there's no bad blood between him and EFF leader Julius Malema after resigning from the party this week.

Ndlozi's resignation came after he was suspended by the party last year before its elective conference in December. He said his decision to leave the EFF was to focus on academia and civil society.

In a podcast interview, Ndlozi said his last conversation with Malema was when he was handed his suspension letter in November. Malema has publicly said his personal relationship with Ndlozi ended a while ago. Despite that, Ndlozi said he still considers him a brother.

“I hold nothing in my heart against the president of the EFF,” he said.

“I worked closely with him and as a leader he has gone through a lot. I think his contribution is of serious importance and I would never join any voice to write him off or to dismiss the EFF.

“You can never choose where the test of your character will come from. There are people who have had worse experiences from their mothers, brothers or sisters, so you can't say 'only the enemy must test me'.”

Ndlozi's suspension meant he couldn't attend the elective conference where new leadership was elected and he was excluded from the new leadership.

“I'm not in the leadership anymore. There have been sharp political disagreements and I have refused the invitation to make those personal, because you wouldn't be able to do politics on the terms of the person.

“Progressive revolutions are a high calling that stems from a place of love and there is no course that requires love more than the liberation of black people. You can't engage in a revolution to liberate them and humanise them without love and that's all I have for my brothers and sisters in the EFF.”

During his time in the EFF, Ndlozi was affectionately known as the “people's bae” but also faced criticism and mockery, with some labelling him Malema's “ice boy”. Ndlozi, however, took this label as a compliment, saying he served the party wholeheartedly.

“I think they mean to mock me but it's a great compliment. It means I know how to serve. It’s important; you don’t mock that. It is the stupidest idea to mock the person who prepared the room before you sat in the chair. I did that wholeheartedly.”

Some EFF members called for Ndlozi to take on a more prominent role in the party, even suggesting he become the next deputy leader after Floyd Shivambu defected to the MK Party, or a leader. However, Ndlozi said he knew his role in the party and didn't consider himself better than Malema.

“You must never want to exist in the sky as the only star. Collaboration is important, so the idea that I was not leading is wrong in the first place. We played different roles that ought to have been collaborative and complementary because you couldn't be everything.

“The eye must never turn to the nose and say, 'because I can see and you don't, I'm better', because what if the nose stops breathing? It's collaboration.”

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