The EFF may be down but not out, while the SACP risks becoming a relic of South Africa’s political history.
A similarity in the two political gatherings in Gauteng the past few days – the EFF’s elective conference and the SA Communist Party’s (SACP’s) national congress – was that they were both about searching for political relevance.
Yet, one is bound to fare much better than the other one which, in the words of Bolshevik Leon Trotsky, could soon be heading into the “dustbin of history”.
The EFF suffered a significant setback in the May elections when its populist message did very little to motivate voters. To be fair, the ANC suffered an even bigger smack at the polls.
And, in reality, those reverses could well have been due to the arrival on the scene of Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.
Yet, in its leader, Julius Malema, the EFF not only has someone who is ruthless in pursuing his – and therefore, his party’s – agenda, but also has the charisma and populist appeal which few in South African politics outside of Zuma currently possess.
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The EFF, despite the tensions with MK in recent weeks as EFF leaders defected to Zuma, still has more in common with MK than it does with the ANC, so a future working arrangement between the two is still a possibility.
That means the EFF will be around for some time to come.
If only the same could be said for the SACP, which is becoming more and more of a talk shop for intellectuals dissecting dialectical materialism than an organisation influencing real events. It appears at the moment to be anything but the “vanguard party” leading a “revolution”.
Capitalism’s running dogs, corruption and looting, look like they have won the struggle, comrades. The ANC’s cadres are far more interested in being close to the trough than to the thoughts of Marx or Lenin.
Maybe it’s time to call it a day…
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