EDITORIAL | Floyd Shivambu's exit from the EFF: political move or fallout between two long-term friends?

What does the resignation of the EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu signal about the current course of politics in South Africa?

Everyone wants a little retirement home near the ocean. Shivambu has traded his political home, the EFF, for a corner office with a sea view and joined the KwaZulu-Natal stronghold uMkhonto we Sizwe.

On Thursday he bid farewell to a party he helped form 11 years ago, with the CIC Julius Malema saying the EFF members should expect an exodus of Shivambu supporters which, he said, should not alarm the party's “ground forces”.

The unprecedented departure, which was handled with hitherto unseen maturity within our politics, often characterised by acrimony, raises a myriad of questions on whether this is a political move or a fallout between two long-term friends. In his exit speech, he spoke of the alignment between what the EFF stands for and what MKP aligned to when the “progressive caucus”, an amalgamation of like-minded parties, was unveiled after the polls.

It is clear that the move will potentially strengthen the MK, which is struggling to assert its voice as a party with a national appeal rather than just provincial. Shivambu will no doubt add gravitas in parliamentary debates, something the party’s parliamentary leader and former judge president John Hlophe seems not at ease with.

At face value Shivambu will also help provide a stimulus for growth, especially among the youth. Just last week, political experts said recent by-election results in KwaZulu-Natal where the MK party failed to win wards may indicate that the excitement over the party in the province could be waning. Data analyst Wayne Sussman said the MK party should have had a more favourable outcome, attributing it to having its president, Jacob Zuma, as the only person of political prominence able to campaign for the party.

Shivambu's resignation comes just months before the EFF is set to hold its third elective conference in December.

It is beyond question that the MK has changed the political dispensation of South Africa as we know it. But what are the underlying tactics that could be at play? Is this just a movement of people from one job to another, or a long-term game? A grand plan to launch a progressive black caucus that seeks to reverse the political transformation that the power-sharing of the DA and the ANC has created?

Is there sufficient depth to help the party transition to a future without its founder and deputy leader? We certainly will find out shortly as the party approaches its elective conference

Ahead of the elections, DA leader John Steenhuisen characterised what was the potential coalition of the ANC, EFF and MK as a “clear and present danger”, thus calling it a “doomsday coalition”. Could this then, be a response to this failed alliance? The red party is bleeding talent, with Malema conceding that EFF members who are sympathetic to the MK Party are expected to cross the floor and join Shivambu.

Perhaps it's housekeeping and an attempt to sanitise the image of the party after the damning allegations by jailed former VBS Mutual Bank chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi that the EFF was paid R5m and R1m monthly “donations” to clean up the bank’s bad reputation after giving Zuma a home loan for Nkandla. This was allegedly funnelled through a company owned by Brian Shivambu, brother of Floyd, who was then the party’s deputy president.

Whatever the answer, the EFF appears to be a party on the decline after enjoying years of ascension. Shivambu made his bones in the trenches with the EFF, despite starting as one of the youngsters in the ANC Youth League who was expelled together with his now former political boss, Malema. He is known to be the brains behind the EFF’s policy documents and strategies. This is why his move is a major gain for MK, which hardly had a manifesto to showcase during the May general elections.

The question is who will replace him now in the EFF — is there sufficient depth to help the party transition to a future without its founder and deputy leader? We certainly will find out shortly as the party approaches its elective conference. Whatever the impact of Shivambu on the EFF, it is clear the MKP has had a disruptive effect on the country’s body politic.

Shivambu is expected to ensure sustained, if not increased, growth of the party — if, of course, he finds his way around Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile, reputed to use her father’s name to get her way within the party.

In the end, the political landscape is being reconfigured in ways more interesting, and hopefully beneficial, to voters as we march towards the next local government elections.