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Newly elected EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini (42) enters the party’s headquarters in Braamfontein, Gauteng, at exactly 11.30am for this interview, as scheduled.
He is casually dressed in black tracksuit pants, a red golf shirt and an EFF branded cap.
A colleague observes that “uyabhampa mayehamba” – a reference to Marshall’s easy-going gait.
His appearance is a far cry from what it was eight years ago, when he qualified as a finalist for a business award.
He was nominated in the category of emerging entrepreneur, after having founded a successful company in 2005.
Dlamini said at the time that he was “never a good employee” because he did not like “restrictive environments”.
But that was then.
Now, sitting at the table where the EFF’s major decisions are made, he respectfully declines to speak about himself or his past life.
“I am the elected secretary-general of the EFF. My responsibility is to do the work of the party, so the position that I am in now is determined by the EFF. This is exactly what [party president Julius Malema] was talking about [when he said] we must never be tempted to use EFF positions for self-promotion – because once I start speaking about my private life ... that would be self-promotion.
“Once you tap into your personal space, you have become dishonest to the organisation. They give you the responsibility to promote the interests of the organisation, and then you take that same platform for your personal promotion; it is never done like that,” he says, gesturing for emphasis.
These are the same hands that slapped a plain-clothes police officer after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address in February.
A scuffle had broken out between some EFF MPs and security officials, and Dlamini was caught on video slapping the police officer, who subsequently opened an assault charge against him. Dlamini claimed that he was acting in defence of Malema.
Besides displaying signs of being a phuma silwe – a person who is always ready for battle – Dlamini is also credited for breathing new life into the EFF in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal, after support for the party grew significantly in the May 8 polls.
He speaks passionately about the work that lies ahead for the party.
“We went into the first national people’s assembly without having launched structures in KwaZulu-Natal. We just had conveners and coordinators, so we knew that we had to build slowly and create a good foundation. But in this year’s results, we grew by 400% – from 70 000 to 370 000 members.
“The strategy was about hard work and consistency. You have to do things again and again. So, it was about hard work, consistency and paying attention to detail. There was nothing that we took for granted; there is no region or subregion where we said we were comfortable. We went from Kokstad to Umhlabuyalingana.”
In the run-up to the polls, Dlamini – who hails from Umzimkhulu – led wildly successful campaigns throughout KwaZulu-Natal.
On one occasion, he told supporters: “Namhlanje kubone nohlanya ukuthi iKwaZulu-Natal ikhaya leEFF (Today even a crazy person could tell that KwaZulu-Natal is the home of the EFF). We are going to occupy all the 4 800 [voting districts] in KwaZulu-Natal, bangasondeli emavotini ethu (they must not come near our votes).
“Our revolution is clear: our revolution is about land; it is about reclaiming the minerals,” he said, to loud applause.
Looking towards the local government elections in 2021, Dlamini says elected leaders will have to pull their weight and be present throughout the country.
“Leaders must know that the EFF’s work is permanent. We are still at a formative stage; we do not have enough capacity for leaders to say: ‘I will only avail myself when I have time.’ All of us are expected to be on the ground and we must be hard at work.
“For most of us, this is our first time in politics, in this political party and in getting this type of responsibility, so it is a permanent job. We need to be there in our communities. People need to see the EFF, and not only during elections. We cannot [adopt the] traditions of politicians who go to communities only during voting time, as if the problems of communities only happen during that time.”
Dlamini will now vacate his seat in Parliament to serve full-time at the Braamfontein headquarters, as per the EFF’s constitution.
He says the previous secretary-general was unable to do so, given the party’s financial constraints at the time.
“At the time we did not have the resources to pay. We explained this to our structures, telling them: ‘We know that the constitution says the secretary-general must be at headquarters, but we must be practical. There are a lot of things that are in the constitution, but are they practical? Can we do it, and where are we going to get the money?’
“The only source of income that we could get at that time came from the party levies of 25 MPs. Now things have changed; we have more members: 44 in the National Assembly and more than 800 councillors.
“The organisation is in a much better position to ensure that its salary obligations are being met.”
Do you think that the EFF has a good chance of growing its support base in the 2021 local government elections?
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