In the hours after Floyd Shivambu's exit as EFF deputy president, there was a scramble to control the narrative and show that the fort was still intact.
The party's biggest public relations nightmare came on Sunday — just two days after the announcement — when the weekly papers picked the party apart, giving version after version about why and how Shivambu had finally decided to hang up his red shirt.
The realisation that Shivambu had left the party hit many of its provincial leaders.
Some were debating whether the party would survive without his intellectual capacity and strategic acumen, while others hoped that with Malema at the helm it would be strong enough to withstand the impact.
EFF Gauteng provincial chair Nkululeko Dunga could be among the latter group. To him, much like Malema, Shivambu's resignation was like a punch to the chest.
“It was a moment of shock, a moment of extreme disorientation. You don't know where to go until leaders and structures of the EFF come out to say it's true, and that is how it felt. That is how it felt for at least another two to three days, because inasmuch as the EFF has in excess of a million members and leaders of all structures, it's always difficult to process when you have lost a founding member.
“We have lost a significant share of founding members throughout the years, but none as prominent than a deputy president. I'd be lying if I told you that it was easy to accept. It was not an easy thing to accept, but the beauty of the EFF is that it's so big and consistently it shows that it has grown to surpass its own leaders and its founding leaders,” Dunga said.
While dealing with this loss, the EFF had to push through many questions about why Shivambu had left.
Its leaders came up with a plan, communicating it to Dunga in the early hours of Monday.
At 3am, Dunga received a call from secretary-general (SG) Marshall Dlamini to convene all its ground forces, provincial and regional leaders that afternoon.
“As fighters, we don't sleep. We are continuously awake because there is always a section of a society that is awake. I engaged the provincial secretary that we are expected to convene.”
“When I initially answered the SG's call, he said 'tomorrow we are expected to convene the entire Gauteng structures, and at exactly 6pm we want to address them.' I thought we had an entire day on Monday, so that meant we would have the meeting on Tuesday. I said to him, 'no problem, on Tuesday, we will be ready.' He said, 'why are you acting like a white person? When I say tomorrow, it means it's when people wake up, that is Monday.'
“We had 15 hours to get it right. We didn't want anyone outside the political structures. We were meant to convene chairs, secretaries, regional command teams, provincial command teams and central command team deployees so that we could engage with our structures.
“We accepted and we started running. By 10am all structures were informed. Transport was sorted out, the venue was confirmed, and the stage and sound were dealt with. That is because the EFF is an extremely organised organisation.”
It was in that meeting that Malema addressed his structures. This would be followed by marathon meetings with provincial chairs and secretaries.
Dunga said the meeting was important to communicate to the structures of the EFF that Malema was not the cause of his former deputy's exit.
“We needed to communicate it because there were now aspersions that were being cast by newspapers and in social media circles and a narrative that ought to have been corrected, and the best way to correct it is in a platform of the EFF. It was also important we engage, particularly in Gauteng, because Floyd Shivambu was deployed in Gauteng for a very long time.
“We needed to confide in those who saw him as a leader to tell them there is no leadership here. Lastly, he finds his membership in Gauteng in ward 44, one of the most hardworking wards. We had to also communicate personally and direct to them that things are going to be fine, just continue what you are doing and soldier on. It was important that the CiC (Malema) reignite and reaffirm our participation as members, activists and leaders particularly in Gauteng following the departure of Floyd Shivambu,” Dunga said.
Floyd the sell out
“We say Floyd Shivambu sold out because the question of what must be done has not yet been answered. Why are you now leaving the EFF when we have not done what you said we must do?”
He added Shivambu has joined a party which still seeks to ingratiate itself with the ANC.
“The basis of the formation of the EFF in the founding manifesto was to say that both of us [ANC/EFF] cannot coexist and one must die for the other to continue ... you might as well have had Floyd go back to join the ANC. In light of where he has gone, there is no need to cry ... the guy has sold out,” he said.
Gauteng ANC/EFF arrangement
For Dunga, the mission is for the party to have a better showing in the 2026 local government elections. The party is now in coalition with the ANC in several municipalities in Gauteng and expects to usurp power from the DA in the coming weeks in Tshwane.
Dunga praised the provincial leadership of Gauteng as having the most progressive views within the ANC. This was after bilateral negotiations between the ANC and the EFF collapsed in the lead-up to the formation of a GNU.
The Panyaza Lesufi-led provincial executive committee took a different route towards a coalition than its national leaders, opting to form a minority government which did not include the DA.
This decision, Dunga said, showed the ANC in Gauteng was closer to the EFF in its posture in government.
“In that light and in that spirit, the national government of the ANC ought to have taken that posture, because how do you collectively relate with political parties from an orientation that seeks to say they are the protectors of Israel where you as the ANC have taken an international position to protect the interests of the people of Palestine?
“That is just one of many differences that arise, but one of the most glaring for society and internationalists to view it. It's in that spirit that you appreciate the configuration of government in Gauteng and all the lower spheres of government where we co-govern with the ANC. We are much closer to one another than we would have differences,” he said.
He said the EFF had a relationship with the ANC in the province, where they discussed their shared vision for the province and its lower structures.
“We have political engagements. How can we advance our own struggles outside our political parties. How can we better connect with one another to ensure that we service our constituencies that voted for us. Those are the conversations that we have. In the midst of those conversations will be the bouncing off of ideas in terms of governance and the constituting of governance, and it goes beyond that because at times it even goes to political structures at lower levels. How do we extend better relations?”
He said this relationship has helped in mediating fights between their local government councillors in municipalities in the province.
Tshwane coalition
Dunga said the EFF was looking forward to a coalition in Tshwane which will best reflect its people. He said this reflection must mean service delivery is directed to the people who are most in need, claiming that the DA had failed in its objectives.
He said the EFF and other parties including the ANC and ActionSA were at the final stages of trying to configure a coalition in the city.
“We are hopeful that it will carry out its objectives and will be victorious in reconstituting a government that best reflects the people of Tshwane.”
Dunga said it was likely this coalition would have the ANC taking over the mayoral chain and replacing the DA's Cilliers Brink, with the EFF taking over some positions as heads of mayoral committees.
The DA has been under siege with some of its historical allies in the IFP and FF Plus leaving it to form coalitions with the ANC in several councils and provincial governments.
ActionSA recently formed a coalition with the ANC, PA and the EFF in Johannesburg, installing Dada Morero as its mayor.
This has now been extended to Tshwane despite the DA holding out hope for a potential union with the ANC in the city.
Dunga said the new mayor must be assessed through merit and the coalition must identify someone with experience and credibility to lead the city council. He said the ANC must be aware that it does not hold a majority and could no longer dictate terms for coalition arrangements.
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