Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) national chairperson Veronica Mente has seemingly responded to party president Julius Malema’s demand that members publicly show their loyalty to the Red Berets.
On Monday evening, Malema castigated certain members, without naming them, as being silent during a pivotal moment for the party, in light of former deputy president Floyd Shivambu and EFF MP Mzwanele Manyi leaving the organisation last Thursday for uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party.
“Where are their voices when our movement is under attack?” Malema asked.
But on Tuesday evening, Mente moved to pledge her allegiance to the party.
Mente remains member of the EFF
“My membership [of the EFF] was renewed on the 17th of July,” Mente said on Metro FM.
Mente also poured cold water on perceptions that the party was in crisis mode, triggered by their underwhelming 2024 elections performance, and now exacerbated by Shivambu’s defection to the Jacob Zuma-led MK Party.
“The EFF is going nowhere. The EFF is here to stay.
“People are using this moment to try and create a crisis moment. There is no crisis,” Mente said.
Asked by a caller if she would be throwing her hat into the ring for the vacated position of deputy president come the EFF’s National People’s Assembly elective conference in December, Mente was coy.
“We have not discussed issues of positions,” she responded, directing the conversation to the EFF’s stability.
“EFF is going to come out of December solid.”
Malema to EFF members flirting with MK Party: ‘Leave now!’
Part of Malema’s address to EFF Gauteng members on Monday was aimed at senior members, thought to be Mente, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and others.
He said these members were biding their time until the party’s December conference before deciding whether to follow Shivambu to the MK Party or not.
“Many of them are opportunistic, because they want to see whether they will emerge in the upcoming third National People’s Assembly, before they decide whether they will remain in the EFF or not,” Malema said.
Malema beckoned these unnamed party members to quit the EFF immediately, saying “nothing is going to change between now and December”.
“Leave now!” he said to rousing applause.
Rumours of an exodus to Zuma’s MK Party
Last Thursday morning, after the EFF called an urgent press conference but before Shivambu confirmed his departure, rumours started swirling that Ndlozi and Mente would be following Shivambu out of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela House, the party headquarters in Johannesburg.
Newzroom Afrika, citing sources, reported on the possible exit of former EFF spokesperson Ndlozi and Mente, both EFF MPs.
In contrast, EFF MPs Busisiwe Mkhwebane and Carl Niehaus quickly dismissed rumours of their impending defections to the MK Party.
Mkhwebane confirmed that she had not resigned the Malema-led EFF, calling such rumours “fake news”.
“Rumours by SABC News about me leaving EFF are fake news. I will never betray the fighters – my political home,” she posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Interestingly, Mkhwebane has spousal ties to MK Party. Her husband, David Skosana, is an MP for the Zuma-led party.
Niehaus also dismissed any talk of an exit.
He also said SABC News was spreading “fake news” and demanded that they issue a correction and apology for their report.
“I remain a loyal member of the EFF and have absolutely no reason or intention to leave my party,” Niehaus wrote on X.
Niehaus was once a fierce Zuma ally, even expressing sadness when the former president was imprisoned in 2021 for contempt.
Niehaus would later be arrested on live TV for breaking lockdown rules when he addressed a gathering outside the Estcourt prison where Zuma was held.
Ndlozi’s EFF future
As of Tuesday evening, Ndlozi’s future in the EFF was seemingly still in the air, even though he was pictured at the EFF headquarters on Monday afternoon.
Last month, Ndlozi was touted as a possible candidate to replace Marshall Dlamini as the EFF’s secretary-general, when party delegates gather for its elective conference in December.
“I think I must convene a meeting of all former presidents of EFFSC, including the current one. We must have a view on the EFF national people assembly. I will persuade them, if they agree, that a character like Mbuyiseni must come as an SG,” said former EFF Student Command president Mpho Morolane in July 2024.
