EFF churns through high rate of MPs

Ongoing resignations or dismissals claim 61% of politicians since 2014

THE EFF is the most tumultuous political party in the country – with more than half of its members of parliament resigning or being expelled since the 2014 national election. This, according to a report entitled “The EFF’s Internal Revolution”, released by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) yesterday.

The report stated that 61% of the party’s MPs had either resigned or been expelled from the party.

It also said the media had failed to scrutinise the EFF, instead focusing on its theatrics.

According to the report, since the 2014 national elections, a total of 19 of the 31 EFF parliamentary representatives had resigned or been expelled, making it an average of one resignation or expulsion every two to three months over a 45-month period.

The IRR called EFF leader Julius Malema’s claim that the party was the only stable and genuinely united organisation in South Africa patently false and accused the media of not properly analysing the EFF.

Ahead of election results, all parties submit to parliament a final list of candidates for the National Assembly.

Of the 25 members on the EFF’s final list, five chose not to take up their seats – which the report says was significantly more than other top parties, namely the DA, ANC and IFP, which had two, three and zero candidates declining, respectively.

The report stated that telling categories were resignations and expulsions which made it easy to discern more about the political stability of any national party caucus.

“It is on this front that the EFF is, by some considerable distance, the most tumultuous of all the major parties.”

Among those fired by the EFF were Black First Land First (BLF) national leader Andile Mngxitama, who was expelled in April 2015 after being found guilty of misconduct after he and two other members accused the party leadership of misappropriating funds.

Written by the IRR’s head of politics and governance, Gareth van Onselen, the report said the quality of EFF MPs left a lot to be desired.

It said that when MPs were demoted from the National Assembly to local government, the party was forced to use National Council of Provinces (NCOP) members to fill the role.

Van Onselen said the members who resigned were not often interrogated or cross-examined.

“There is no attempt to define [or] even describe the party’s inner workings or organisational culture,” he said. “It exists, in the public eye, as no more than a useful sounding board off which the ANC and Zuma’s politics can be bounced.”

When asked to comment on the report, EFF secretary-general and MP Godrich Gardee said a look should be taken at the list of EFF MPs from parliament in April/May 2014 and it should be compared with this year’s list before reaching a conclusion.

“You may be asking me about a report that is baseless, whose resource and method of research are suspect, and now you’re asking me to comment on fake news,” he said.

When looking at the list of names of MPs from 2014 to 2018, the IRR was factual in its findings.

‘ There is no attempt to define [or] even describe the party’s inner workings