King and ex-limpopo EFF leader rejoin ANC

CONTROVERSIAL abathembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo and former EFF Limpopo chairperson Jossey Buthane have re-joined the ANC ahead of the May 29 elections.

Although he had yet to confirm the move, Dalidyebo was seen in ANC regalia at the Chris Hani Memorial Lecture last week.

This despite giving his endorsement to the EFF, and the party’s president, Julias Malema, having bought Dalidyebo a R1.8 million Mercedesbenz GLE SUV.

The king was celebrating his birthday last Friday while attending the lecture, delivered by Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane.

Dalindyebo has been flitting between political parties over the years.

Before donning ANC regalia, he had vowed to be loyal to the Red Berets.

In 2013 he swore allegiance the DA, which revoked his membership in 2015 after he was convicted of assault.

A few weeks ago, he was heard saying that the ANC could come back fraudulently, and he would render the government ungovernable if that were to be the case.

Dalindyebo said that the ANC was forever his home and he had the right to leave it if he wanted to.

The EFF this week reportedly confirmed that they won’t be taking back the car following the king’s backtracking.

The Red Berets said the car was a gift and not a bribe for his support.

Previously, Independent Media reported that former EFF Limpopo chairperson Buthane had come out of his bubble, announcing, last Sunday that he had re-joined the ANC after weeks of speculation.

Buthane, who has been in the political wilderness since 2021, left the Red Berets after a fallout with Malema.

A wedge was driven between the two once close allies after the party’s poor results in the 2021 local government elections, forcing Malema and his executive to disband the Limpopo provincial command team (PCT), which had been led by Buthane.

With the party being the official opposition in Limpopo, which has always been the party’s stronghold, it was a massive concern to Malema and his executive to lose 25 council seats following those elections.

Malema at the time had said the decision to disband the provincial PCT had been made by the party’s highest decision-making structure, the central command team.

But Buthane saw it as a betrayal by his longtime ally and broke ranks last year to form the Workers Emancipation Trade Union.

During the ANC’S annual Solomon Mahlangu Memorial Lecture on Sunday, which Buthane used to announce his return to the party, he announced that 190 former EFF members were following his lead and joining the ANC.

If true, this would be a big blow to the EFF.

ANC’S provincial secretary, Reuben Madadzhe, confirmed that Buthane had joined the governing party.