The EFF is at a crossroads. Following a bruising election and high-profile defections, the path it chooses at its December elective conference will determine whether it makes history or fades into insignificance.
Listen to this article 8 min Listen to this article 8 min Two months before the Economic Freedom Fighters' (EFF) elective conference set for December 2024, the triumphant red brigade, once led by the dynamic revolutionary duo of Floyd Shivambu and Julius Malema, is fighting for survival and political relevance.
Riddled with suspicion and intrigue in the aftermath of Shivambu's brazen defection to the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party in August and led by an inflexible, dictatorial commander-in-chief, who will be Malema's 2IC and is the party prepared to alter its course?
Add to all of this the reality that outside the "progressive caucus" - which Jacob Zuma hopes will "recapture" government" - is the fact that Shivambu and Malema have the VBS collusion and criminal allegations trailing them like a bad smell. Zuma too has his own court battles ahead.
These obstacles in the road still exist, and how the National Prosecuting Authority elects to act on the damning revelations made about both EFF leaders by former VBS chair, Tshifhiwa Matodzi, currently serving 495 years in prison, is bound to set off a tipping of dominoes.
The political playing field that Malema and the EFF must now...
