EFF Gauteng provincial chair Nkululeko Dunga has called for continuity in the party as it gears up for its National People's Assembly (NPA) in December.
Dunga is the first provincial chair to come out publicly to support the current cohort of leaders to continue for another term in the party.
This comes as the EFF suffered a loss when its deputy president Floyd Shivambu defected to the Jacob Zuma-led MK party this month.
Dunga’s statement is the first signal that its secretary-general Marshall Dlamini is likely to remain in his position after speculation that Central Command Team (CCT) member and former spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi would contest the coveted secretariat post.
In an interview with TimesLIVE Premium this week, Dunga — a known Julius Malema lieutenant — said the EFF would need to keep its current leadership.
If you were to ask me, you can't fault the commander in chief [Malema] and the collective. They have done extremely well under the conditions, and we need more continuity in the EFF than ever before.
— Nkululeko Dunga, EFF Gauteng provincial chair
“If you were to ask me, you can’t fault the commander in chief [Malema] and the collective. They have done extremely well under the conditions, and we need more continuity in the EFF than ever before,” he said.
Dunga said imperialist organisations were looking for a way to eat into the EFF and trying to disorganise and disorientate it as they did during the May elections.
He said this was evident when the DA labelled the EFF as enemy number one instead of focusing on the then-incumbent government of the ANC.
“It goes without saying that they still define us as an enemy until today. Their failure to collapse the EFF through electoral outcome is that potentially they could look at sponsoring certain views and certain aspirations to collapse the EFF internally. We will not allow that. We are pretty much fine from where we are standing and the leadership,” he said.
Dunga endorsed Dlamini to remain as the secretary-general, arguing that he had proven “beyond reasonable doubt that administratively he is able to do the work”.
The leadership question around Dlamini is said to have influenced in part Shivambu’s resignation.
Shivambu was expected to face tough contestation from Dlamini in the December NPA.
While the two leaders were said to have been allies in the EFF, Shivambu was removed as the KwaZulu-Natal convener after failing to bring stability to the province. Malema has previously denied these allegations. Dlamini had previously been credited with having increased the EFF's membership in KZN.
The Mail & Guardian previously reported it was the KZN branches which were lobbying for Dlamini to replace Shivambu.
“We have seen the highest number of people joining the EFF through our programme of 1-million membership, but we also saw a seamless process of administration throughout this election period,” Dunga said, lauding Dlamini.
While Dunga made known who he was endorsing, he said this was in no way trying to distort the democratic process of the party.
“Everyone has a right to vote and be voted for provided they are members of EFF and meet minimum requirements of the constitution of the EFF to form part of any structures,” he said.
He was speaking in light of speculation that Ndlozi might contest the secretariat position.
“Commissar Ndlozi is a quality leader. He has got all the qualities of a leader, that is why he is in the central command of the EFF. If branches see it fit that he must contest and he accepts, it's all within his right and the right of branches of the EFF. Every position in the EFF is contested,” he said.
The NPA is a gathering of party branches to elect new leaders and sits every five years. The NPA is constituted by 90% of branch delegates, with 10% coming from the provincial leaders, the CCT — its highest decision-making body and national structure.
Branches have until September 9 to finalise the recruitment of members and renew their membership of the party to meet the guidelines to participate in the conference.
Branches must meet the 10% minimum threshold of votes acquired in their constituency during the May elections to participate in the conference.
After this process, branches will hold Branch People's Assemblies to elect their leaders, nominate delegates for the conference and their preferred candidates for the top six positions.
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