Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has confirmed that former party chairperson Dali Mpofu proposed dissolving the party and merging it with the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma.
Malema made the statements during an internal podcast with EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys on Thursday, hours after news broke that Mpofu had become the latest senior EFF member to defect to the MK party.
In the podcast, Malema said he was surprised at Mpofu’s suggestion of a merger, which he said had been met with strong opposition from then EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu. Shivambu himself has jumped ship to MK.
“Floyd was extremely shocked. Dali wasn’t just proposing it, he had written it down, and clearly thought it through,” Malema said, adding that Shivambu had told Mpofu that the proposal would not be considered.
Mpofu, who was a member of the ANC before joining the EFF, and now the MK party, has since released a nine-page statement dated 7 November, where he argued that “you do not need anybody’s permission to consider yourself as a member or supporter of any one or all three of these organisations”.
“I have earned the right to belong to all three through blood and sweat, as well as the personal efforts and sacrifices I have made for each. Nobody can ever take that away from me,” he wrote, adding that his decision to join the MK aligned with his vision of uniting “progressive forces”.
Mpofu said he had participated in “underground” meetings in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal with leaders from various political parties over the past year, and had played a role fostering alliances among left-wing parties, but he did not comment on Malema’s assertion that he had proposed dissolving the EFF.
“How can one person consider themselves to be a member of the ANC, EFF and MK all at the same time? Impossible, right? Wrong. My membership of the ANC expired or lapsed in 2013. I have also been recently informed that my membership of the EFF has lapsed,” Mpofu said in his statement.
“I have not yet signed up my membership of MK, so how can I claim to be a member of any of these three organisations? All of them have the right to issue statements ‘clarifying’ that, according to their ‘records’, I am not their member.
“Yet, I insist I am a member of all three. I am a proud member of the ‘AMF of the Nation’ which is some not-so-imaginary amalgam of the ANC, MK and ANC. The African Mkhonto Fighters. You get my drift?”
Mpofu said he had facilitated meetings between Zuma and leaders from various political groups, including the EFF, United Democratic Movement, the African Transformation Movement and others with the goal of building a stronger alternative to the government of national unity.
In Thursday’s podcast, Malema said while he had met Zuma to discuss potential collaborations, he rejected Mpofu’s proposal to dissolve the EFF.
He had suggested that Zuma consider endorsing the EFF, if he was interested in a partnership, but the former president declined, arguing that older voters would be reluctant to support the Red Berets.
“I told him that it is not going to happen. I don’t agree with that and there is no EFF that is going to close shop,” said Malema, who has previously criticised members he believed were not fully committed to the EFF’s vision.
Addressing Mpofu’s departure, Malema said: “It is what it is,” reiterating that he had anticipated it.
The MK party contested its first general election on 29 May 2024, securing 15% of the national vote and positioning itself as South Africa’s third-largest party, a rank previously held by the EFF.
Mpofu’s departure from the EFF to MK follows those of other high-profile members this year, including Shivambu, former government spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi and former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
Speaking to the media on Friday at the inauguration of Botswana’s new president Duma Boko, Malema said the mass exodus of senior leaders was not the end of his party.
“It can’t fall apart because you cannot destroy that which you have not built. It is our child. It is our own baby and we will decide what we do with it. The EFF is the future and cannot be destabilised by opportunism,” he said.
He reiterated that he did not have a relationship with Zuma beyond politics.
“We are political contenders. He is a leader of a political party, and I am a leader of a political party. That’s where our relationship starts and ends. Where we agree on issues, we will share a common perspective. Where we disagree, we will disagree, respectively so.”
Former MK party national organiser McDonald Mathabe has publicly disputed Mpofu’s claim of assisting Zuma in forming MK.
In an interview with talk radio station 702, Mathabe called Mpofu’s claim “dishonest” and said Zuma had deliberately excluded the prominent lawyer due to his active membership in the EFF.
“Mpofu is lying. He knows very well that Zuma didn’t want him involved,” Mathabe said, adding that he had advised Zuma against joining forces with the EFF.
