EFF ponders shake up of KZN leadership ahead of local government elections
KZN EFF leader Mongezi Thwala is under pressure with the party under his leadership performing badly in by-elections.
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As part of renewing and reshaping the party ahead of the next year’s local government election, the EFF is expected to have a reconfigured leadership in KwaZulu-Natal by the end of the week.
This was revealed by a senior party leader who said the decision has already been taken by the central command team (CCT). The party leader said the decision was necessitated by a string of by-election losses which the leader described as the worst performance in the 12 year-history of the party in the province, adding that the internal process has already started to assess the members that would serve in the interim structure.
He said initially, the CCT wanted to disband the entire provincial leadership under Mongezi Thwala and Nkululeko Ngubane as chairperson and secretary respectively, however, it opted for a reconfiguration for the sake of unity so that the party will kick off its local government elections campaign in a united manner.
“Things are falling apart in our movement and urgent action has been long overdue. We need a change of leadership because it has become clear that the current leadership is failing. The best assessment tool to see whether you have good leadership or not is through winning or losing elections. The current leadership appears to lacking public appeal, therefore the central command team had to intervene,” said the leader.
Although the EFF did fairly well in 2021, getting representation in almost all municipalities, it failed to win a single ward in KwaZulu-Natal. Since 2021 the party has not managed to win a single by-election and instead has been performing dismally.
In the recent by-election in Mandeni Local Municipality’s ward 18, the party only garnered 20 votes and in one voting station, it received one vote. In the same ward during last year’s general elections, the party got 26 votes while in 2021 it had obtained 145. The figures show that support for the party has been gradually declining.
In the 2019 general elections, EFF managed to get eight seats in the provincial legislature, from two seats it won in the 2014 general elections.
The party’s provincial communications officer Chris Msibi confirmed that the national leadership has expressed its concerns over the party’s poor performance in the by-elections since 2021, but refused to be drawn into discussion of reconfiguration, saying whatever action the party would take against the provincial leadership, would be an internal matter.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za