Decision by ANC to isolate EFF is an unwise one and could backfire

As things are now, the Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) appears to be in no-man’s land in the ongoing talks about the formation of coalitions after the 2024 general election as the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA) want nothing to do with the red berets.

But I can assure you that the Malema we all know and his EFF will bounce back and destroy the buffer the two parties created and he will demand to be at the centre of any coalition.

The decision by the ANC to dump the EFF, or isolate it, is an unwise one and could backfire because the EFF will be needed if the ANC loses its electoral majority – and especially if the ruling party is rejected by the DA. The ANC might come cap-in-hand to the EFF and beg it to come back, like a jilted lover.

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Luthuli House failed to understand the fact that it was busy burning its bridges against a party that it largely shared ideology with.

The EFF is an unashamedly a socialist party and the ANC has become a social democratic party, but more leaning towards neoliberalism. We have seen the EFF advocating for the interests of the poor on such issues as land, better healthcare and housing.

We had seen the EFF embarking on public campaigns around these issues, including invading land and fighting in parliament for expropriation of land without compensation and put it under state control, and initiating a health campaign for the have-nots.

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Save for its flip-flop approach, the EFF long ago grabbed the strategic initiative from the ANC, which was pursuing a neoliberal agenda with the cooperation of its supposedly socialist alliance partners, South African Communist Pary and union federation Cosatu.

What weakens the EFF is its notorious flip-flopping because had it been steadfast and sticking to one position, it would be able to punish the ANC by refusing its kiss and makeup request after the 2024 polls.

After the November 2021 local government election, the EFF refused to establish any form coalition with the ANC, resulting in the DA-led coalitions in Joburg and Ekurhuleni. However, within a few months, the EFF had changed its mind and partnered with ANC to oust the DA in both metros.

The ANC is currently talking about forming an alliance with the DA instead of EFF, which would be a huge leap for a party that once boasted of being a “disciplined force of the left”.

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The DA’s “moonshot pact” proposes that at least six parties come together to remove the ANC from power and stop a future ANC-EFF national coalition.

But it has emerged that such a leftist ANC-EFF coalition may not even happen because the two parties are at loggerheads. Instead, the ANC is considering a centre-right coalition with DA, which stands for liberal values, including capitalism and a free market.

This not only leaves the EFF in the cold, but it places the ANC on the path to become true capitalist movement, should it come to fruition. This is contrary to ANC’s promise of introducing socialism and economic freedom.

Also, there is no hope it would borrow from China and introduce socialism with local characteristics… à la Beijing’s approach of socialism with “Chinese characteristics”.

As The Citizen columnist Martin Williams wrote this week, it is contradictory to see the DA fighting to remove the ANC from power and, at the same time, considering entering into coalition with it after the election.

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The ANC also appear to have realised the benefit of having a party with a record of good governance as a partner. But for the ANC, this would present an electoral challenge as it has to convince its voters to accept the DA, which they called a racist party of the whites.