Malema to EFF defectors: “We will not beg anyone to stay, those who want to leave, must leave”

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)  leader Julius Malema has reassigned the party responsibilities previously held by his former deputy Floyd Shivambu to secretary general Marshall Dlamini after Shivambu defected to Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party last week. 

Dlamini will serve as the EFF’s chief whip in parliament, while Malema’s office will oversee the governance task unit. The unit, which was led by Shivambu, includes the EFF’s leaders in provincial legislatures, municipal councils and parliamentary whips, and is responsible for the party’s governance activities, Malema said on Monday.

He was addressing the EFF’s Gauteng provincial ground forces in Soweto for the first time since Shivambu’s departure.

Former party spokesperson Sinawo Thambo will take over Shivambu’s seat in parliament, while Nazier Paulsen will replace Mzwanele Manyi, who has also decamped to the MK party.

Shivambu’s departure comes four months before the party holds its third conference to elect new leaders. The conference was initially expected to see a close contest for the deputy and secretary general positions.

The EFF is still reckoning with its lacklustre performance in 29  May general elections, where it lost the position of the country’s third largest party to the MK party.

Malema used Monday’s address to hit back at Shivambu — who refused to renew his EFF membership — saying he would not beg anyone to stay.

“You must leave today because nothing is going to change now. Leave now, we have no reason to beg anyone. If you want to leave now … even if we are alone, we will still speak truth to power,” a visibly irate Malema said, urging those who wanted to follow in Shivambu’s footsteps to depart from the party before the elective conference.

Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, a former EFF spokesperson; former chairperson and prominent lawyer  Dali Mpofu as well as current chair Veronica Mente are said to be among those on their way out of the party.

On Monday Malema — who commented last week he was aware of an imminent exodus of members to the MK party — said he was comforted by the supporters who had attended the Soweto gathering.

“I stand before you, re-energised by your energy, fearless character, and taking on the enemy without thinking twice. They said I have been left alone. I can proudly say that I am not alone today,” he said.

“I salute you because, knowingly or unknowingly, you have been the first line of defence of the organisation. No one has the right to tell you how to defend the organisation.”

He demanded that party members who remained silent on Shivambu’s departure clarify whether they intended to stay or leave, adding that those who chose to keep mum amid attacks on the EFF were “silent enemies of our organisation”.

“You are too busy after other resignations, popularising certain people that they must take over, yet they are silent when people decide to abandon you. Why can’t they choose you? Why do you keep on choosing the people who never choose you? When it is time for them to choose you — they are silent,” he said, without naming names.

“They are choosing what looks like greener pastures. Many of them are opportunists because they want to see whether they will emerge in the upcoming third people’s assembly before they decide whether they will remain in the EFF or not.”

Malema urged party members to unite and close ranks against any elements that might seek to use the December conference as an opportunity to “infiltrate and destroy the EFF”.

“Many of them are using the third people’s assembly as a threat. If they do not get elected, or are part of the leadership discussions, then they will leave and join the MK party.

“We must never be blackmailed by those who want to threaten us with leaving after the third people’s assembly. I want to say to them, ‘Leave now, so that we can know how many soldiers [the party has left],’” he said.

“We must guard against opportunism; factionalism and self-entitlement; greed and all attempts to distract us from our generational mission.”