A disagreement of approach in the negotiations with the government of national unity (GNU) has come up as a major contributing factor that led to the sudden resignation of EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu this week.
Other reasons include the growing lack of trust between the leaders, which started early last year but intensified towards the election campaigns, adding to suspicions that there could be a plot and counterplot to dethrone each other from their current positions as commander-in-chief and deputy president.
The news of Shivambu’s resignation was leaked on Thursday morning, following his resignation on Wednesday night.
READ: Floyd Shivambu’s resignation prompted by a fall out with Malema, says EFF insider
He then publicly announced his resignation from the EFF, the party he had helped found in 2013.
This came after writing a letter to Malema the previous evening, stating that he would not renew his membership. He also resigned as an MP of the EFF.
This sudden resignation has given credence to rumours that the two leaders had a fallout during the run-up to national and provincial elections in May.
READ: WATCH | Shivambu’s exit is the start of a ‘new journey’ for EFF, says Malema
Malema drove from Polokwane in Limpopo late on Wednesday afternoon to meet Shivambu at his house before their meeting
At the press conference held to explain his leaving the party, Shivambu said his resignation was not a sign of distrust in the EFF, but a “revolutionary gesture that will unite progressive forces behind an agenda to work for progressive and revolutionary change”.
Malema also insisted that he had no hard feelings towards Shivambu and that rumours of a plan to replace him as deputy leader at the party’s elective conference in December were unfounded.
According to Malema, Shivambu’s resignation was as painful to him as the loss of his mother.
He said that, instead of concerns that this could signal the beginning of the end of the red berets, Shivambu’s departure should be viewed as the start of a new journey for the EFF.
A source said:
There’s been a growing lack of trust, which has increased in recent days as the conference draws to a close, because some members have been lobbying Floyd to challenge the president, who seems uncomfortable about it. However, the straws that broke the camel’s back were issues relating to the negotiations with the ANC.
The informant said that the problem was much deeper than many people could understand.
“This lack of trust also played a role during the negotiations with other parties, because some leaders accused others of serving their own interests, rather than those of the party. If it hadn’t been for the lack of trust, the EFF could have been part of the GNU long before the DA agreed to join it,” added the source.
Insiders said the two leaders had found themselves in different camps, with one side in favour of getting into bed with the ANC and the other side against it.
The source said the party had been close to agreeing to a deal with the ANC, but Malema had vetoed it without consulting other party leaders.
The source said that all the meetings which the EFF had wanted with the ANC had failed to materialise because when one faction agreed to it, the other did not.
Moreover, Shivambu’s election campaign for the EFF in KwaZulu-Natal had been a failure, with the party’s support in the province dropping by 77%, largely due to former president Jacob Zuma’s Mkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) taking the majority of the provincial votes.
KwaZulu-Natal structures of the party have already begun pressuring Marshall Dlamini, secretary-general of the EFF, to challenge Shivambu as deputy leader.
The source said the removal of Shivambu from KwaZulu-Natal deployment under the pretext that he was helping the party gain more support was a strategy, because he was seen to be gathering more personal support in the region.
The source added:
Some of the decisions were taken without being communicated, and that’s been bothering Shivambu.
It is believed that Shivambu’s campaigns were also seen as lobbying for the position of president, while others believe his involvement on the ground was going to upset the plan for Dlamini, who has been lobbied to contest against him for the position of deputy president.
“However, the two leaders have been trying not to destroy each other because they know so much about one other. For that reason, they decided it was best that Shivambu’s exit be carefully managed,” said the source.
City Press has learnt that Shivambu and Malema could not agree on the approach to the GNU, which seemed to have divided the party.
“Contrary to what many people suspect, there was no one incident that led to the fallout between the two friends. There were several issues that culminated in Floyd’s final decision to resign,” said the source.
READ: Siyabonga Hadebe | Floyd Shivambu leads the song in EFF-MK letsema
After Shivambu resigned on Thursday, Malema spent the better part of the night trying to persuade him to change his mind.
“There was also fear that there could be embarrassment at the conference for both parties and they weren’t willing to [experience it],” said the source.
On Thursday, Shivambu refused to state the reasons for his departure, which Malema accepted, despite claiming that he wanted Shivambu to stay because they had co-founded the party.
Malema no longer has to worry about these internal challenges in his party, but must now fear a large-scale exodus of EFF members to the MKP, according to an EFF source.
EFF members are reportedly dissatisfied that Malema arbitrarily removes public representatives and replaces them with people who have never been part of the red berets.
The source specifically referred to Carl Niehaus and former public protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who were both elected as MPs, despite not even being members of the EFF for a year.
One of these new EFF members, former government spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi, resigned as an EFF MP last week to join the MKP. The expectation is that both Shivambu and Manyi will be sworn in as MKP MPs after the party announced last week that it would replace 15 of its MPs, who were only sworn in last month.
Shivambu is believed to be earmarked as secretary-general or deputy leader of the MKP.
This will give Shivambu, who has long lived in Malema’s shadow, the chance to build structures and establish branches for a party which currently has none.
Norman Masungwini and Dawie Boonzaaier
www.news24.com
