EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi is not leaving the party.
- The EFF has dispelled rumours Mbuyiseni Ndlozi is leaving the party.
- This after former deputy leader Floyd Shivambu turned his back on the EFF last Thursday.
- On Monday, EFF leader Julius Malema addressed supporters, taking aim at Shivambu and the MK Party as well as addressing internal party affairs.
The EFF has rubbished claims another one of its senior leaders, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, has resigned from the party.
This, days after EFF president Julius Malema suggested Ndlozi might follow in the footsteps of his former close friend and deputy president, Floyd Shivambu, who turned his back on the party last week.
EFF spokesperson Leigh-Ann Mathys told News24 posts circulating on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday were fake news.
Asked whether Ndlozi had resigned, she curtly said: “Rubbish sources! Commissar Dr Ndlozi has not resigned.”
The dismissal of the rumours comes after Ndlozi broke his silence on X by sharing a photograph of himself wearing an EFF T-shirt and holding a microphone on Wednesday morning. No caption accompanied the photograph.
Ndlozi, who is usually outspoken, has not said anything following Shivambu’s departure.
EFF national chairperson Veronica Mente also took to social media to distance the party from the rumours, saying:
These agents of doom have imaginary so-called leadership sources and start sensationalising people’s names in a quest to dent the EFF. We are busy with building our organisation which makes them nervous as hell. We are stronger than ever before.
The developments come two days after Malema’s monologue in which he fired a salvo at Shivambu and his new political home, the MK Party.
READ | ‘Floyd, what did I do to you?’: Malema declares war on Shivambu, MK Party and other defectors
Shivambu resigned from the party last Thursday and announced he would join the MK Party.
Tensions in the EFF are at an all-time high following the party’s poor showing in the 2024 general elections and its decision not to join the government of national unity.
The ructions also come months before the party’s national people’s assembly, where delegates are expected to elect new leadership.
Malema addressed supporters in Soweto on Monday.
In his speech, without naming Ndlozi, he suggested he might have caught wind of those who wanted to leave the party.
Malema dragged Ndlozi’s partner, Mmabatho Montsho, into the spat for liking a social media post in which Shivambu stated joining the MK Party was the best decision he had made.
The EFF president said he noted the deafening silence of some leaders while others betrayed the movement.
“A leader of the EFF who is well-known, who is very popular on social media, television, radio and everywhere else … the EFF gets under attack, and these leaders do not say anything, but because they don’t know where they stand … there is a practical way to find out where they stand.
“Just go and look at where their parents stand, look at where their relatives and spouses stand, and you will know that those closest to them are speaking on their behalf because they whispered into their ears.
“How can someone say the decision to join uMkhonto weSizwe is the best decision ever taken and my wife, Mantwa, is the first one to like such a thing and you say ‘Julius Malema is with us’ when the partner likes the things that seek to denounce the organisation and where the organisation stands?
“Where the relatives, cousins, and siblings have declared where they stand, and you still ask yourself, where does this leader stand? Look at those around him, and you will know where those leaders stand.”
READ | Malema guns for ‘silent’ Mbuyiseni Ndlozi as gloves come off in midst of EFF squabbles
Those who remained silent during an attack must be noted as being “silent enemies” of the EFF, Malema added.
He also used the event to announce significant changes to the party’s caucus in Parliament, revealing secretary-general Marshall Dlamini would take over from Shivambu as EFF chief whip in the National Assembly.
Malema also transferred tasks and duties that were in the deputy president’s office to his own.