‘The EFF should guard against the culture of punishing those with dissenting views and glorifying those that share similar views with the leadership of the party.’
Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast, a political analyst from the Nelson Mandela University (NMU), told The Citizen on Saturday that Julius Malema is likely to come back as EFF leader once again.
On Saturday, the party will elect its new leaders to steer the party over the next five years.
Should Malema be re-elected, this will be his third term as the party’s leader.
‘Anointed’ leaders will dominate elections
Breakfast said it is clear that the winners will be all who have been “anointed” by Malema.
“If you look at the kind of leaders that stand to emerge, they are the ones that Malema has anointed.
“The leaders that will be elected are the ones that are aligned to Malema,” he said.
He said those who seemed to have a different view of Malema were dealt with through suspensions.
This includes a group that supports Dr. Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, who has not been seen at the National People’s Assembly (NPA).
Ndlozi was expected to contest for the party’s deputy president position.
But his relationship with Malema has been sour since the departure of the former deputy president Floyd Shivambu.
“Where is Ndlozi? I have not seen him at the conference. That is what they should tell us,” said Breakfast.
EFF could implode if dissent is repressed, says Breakfast
Breakfast said there are nuances that the EFF is centered around Malema.
He said the EFF should guard against the culture of punishing those with dissenting views and glorifying those that share similar views with the leadership of the party.
“This is not good. It will make people jump ship and walk out of the party, or it can make the party implode,” he said.
He also emphasised that the EFF should strengthen internal democracy by ensuring that decisions are not simply taken from the top and filtered down.
However, Malema has denied that he is a dictator.
In an EFF podcast interview, he said if he were to lose the contest for the EFF presidency, he would accept the results.
At the same time, he said he would not be like other politicians who remained party leaders until they died.
Malema reportedly favours Godrich Gardee as deputy
Meanwhile, there are reports that Malema favours Godrich Gardee as the party’s next deputy president.
Some in the party believe Gardee is not strong enough for this position.
During his political address, Malema thanked the party’s secretary-general, Marshall Dlamini, for his hard work and dedication.
Some have interpreted this as Dlamini being endorsed as the party’s-secretary general for another term.
Malema also thanked the party’s treasurer, general Omphile Maotwe, for her hard work.
He told the media on Saturday that he could have thanked all the other members of his Central Command Team (CCT), but there was no time.
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