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The EFF in the Eastern Cape has welcomed their disbandment by the central command team and view the action as being in best interest of the organisation ahead of 2019.
The three-year-old party has ambitions of being a major player in the 2019 national general elections, and rebuilding strong structures in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – traditional ANC strongholds – was part of a bigger plan to diminish control of the ruling party nationally.
This week, Economic Freedom Fighters provincial spokesperson Yoliswa Yako said all eight regions and the provincial command team have been disbanded.
“We welcome the decision because we understand why it had to be taken and whichever leadership does emerge after this, it’s going to be one that is capable of taking the responsibility of running a province and region. We are quite fine with the decision because it’s for the good of the party in the province,” she said.
The announcement to disband the EFF structures was made by party leader Julius Malema on Monday following the two provinces’ unimpressive showing at last month’s local government elections, which saw the fledgling party playing kingmaker in many key municipalities in the country.
Unlike in the Tshwane and Johannesburg metros where the EFF held the key for the formation of coalition governments, in Nelson Mandela Bay the Democratic Alliance (DA) did not need the help of the EFF and went into government with the United Democratic Movement and the Congress of the People.
In the Eastern Cape the EFF received 5% of the votes while in KwaZulu-Natal it only got 3% against the national average of 8%. The ANC received an overall 56% of the vote while the DA got 25%.
EFF provincial leader Siyabulela Peter – who also heads the party at the Bhisho Provincial Legislature where they have two seats – could not be reached for comment.
Ongama Mtimka, a political analyst based at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, said the decision seems to be part of EFF’s strong focus on organisational development and long-term growth, and could work well for the party as long it was not done along factional lines.
“So rebuilding the party machinery where it is weak bodes well for its campaign going into the future. As long as it avoids the trappings of factional politics, where particular interventions are framed as good for the organisation when they are in fact factional, the results from such exercises will consolidate its growth and put it in good stead in terms of electoral performance in 2019 and beyond, Mtimka said.
Yako said the plan was now to build structures from the ground-up, and make sure the party was ready to be a force to be reckoned with in 2019.
One of six new EFF councillors at the Nelson Mandela Metro, Yako said because the Eastern Cape and KZN were strongholds of the ANC, they wanted to take the fight directly to the ruling party by building a strong EFF base to challenge for government in 2019.
“We want to be a force to be reckoned with. We want people to recognise that EFF is an alternative and it’s the only party that can take us to the next step. We want people to vote for the EFF. We want the EFF to be running this province. We want to be decision makers because ultimately what we are looking for is to see change and we can only realise that through political power,” Yako said.
Interim structures would now run party affairs in the province while branches though not disbanded will also be revitalised.
Yako said the rebuilding phase will culminate in elective provincial and regional people’s assemblies where new leaders will be mandated to ensure EFF is a strong political force in the province.
The EFF consists mostly of youth occupying leadership positions. Many are new in the political arena and are not experienced in running a political organisation, let alone an effective election campaign, and this contributed to the poor performance in the past elections, said Yako.
She said leaders from the EFF’s central command team – the top structure of the EFF – would be instrumental in guiding the province in the rebuilding process.
“It’s going to be a renewal. There is a lot of hard work that lies ahead.”
