EFF leader Julius Malema has written to the ANC requesting a meeting of the parties in the hope that "we can find each other".
Last week the Sunday Times revealed there were informal talks to woo the EFF back to the ANC.
Although the EFF has dismissed the existence of such talks, Malema told the Sunday Times he had asked that the two parties meet to discuss several sticky issues. These include renaming Cape Town airport after Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, their relationship in Nelson Mandela Bay, and the ANC's opposition to EFF regalia in provincial legislatures and municipal councils.
A meeting would be the first official one between the two parties since the EFF voted with the DA in three big metros after the ANC refused to bow to EFF demands.Malema said that although the ANC had met some of the EFF's demands since the 2016 local government elections, the meeting would not discuss a possible return to the ANC or formal working relations.
"I'm not saying we are going into any form of relationship with the ANC, but I am saying to you, realistically, we [are] not far from each other. The semantics seem to be differing now on the land question. We'll find each other.
"We are two organisations. There is bound to be some technical and tactical differences on how we go about an issue we agree on. So let's talk about it," said Malema.
With the ANC yielding on some of the EFF's demands, he said, there was closer alignment between the two parties. This included the issues of free education, land expropriation without compensation, scrapping of the nuclear deal, a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture and that Jacob Zuma should leave office.
The EFF's demand that Die Stem be removed from the national anthem is one of the items still outstanding.
"That's maturity of politics, that through engagements we can find each other," said Malema. "There is no hostility between the ANC and the EFF, or any other party. We just disagree on issues and we talk."
He said for a meeting of minds, President Cyril Ramaphosa must be decisive on corruption and misconduct by senior civil servants.
"Corruption is a fundamental issue that makes us fight with the ANC, which makes it difficult to move closer to the ANC."An ANC national executive committee member with knowledge of the discussions said his party was amenable to working with the EFF.
"At least we are discussing issues now and not a person [Zuma]. It is in the national interest to get parties who represent the poor and working class to co-operate."
Malema criticised Ramaphosa's decision to shift Arthur Fraser from the State Security Agency to the Department of Correctional Services when serious allegations of corruption required that Fraser be fired.
"It doesn't matter how much information they have against you," said Malema, alleging that Fraser and the agency were involved in a disinformation campaign against Ramaphosa.
Malema said at the funeral of Madikizela-Mandela that he called on Ramaphosa to be respected because he did not want anything "to discredit the last moments of Mama".
"They had a very good relationship with Ma. That's the thing with President Ramaphosa. He is easy-going, he is not aloof, he is not stuck-up. He is not obsessed with protocols and the over-exaggerated importance of the office of the president."
But there were others in the ANC who would thwart a closer working relationship.
"Even if he is tempted to listen to me, those rascals and thugs will overrule him," said Malema. "We are not far apart from the ANC in terms of what we are striving for. They want to treat us like extremists."
ANC national spokesman Pule Mabe confirmed the letter from the EFF and said the secretary-general's office was looking at possible dates for the meeting...