A comprehensive report looking at the root causes of the severe setback suffered by the EFF in the May 29 elections in KwaZulu-Natal, will be tabled before the party’s senior leadership in the coming days.
This past weekend party leaders met with branches and were expected to meet on Monday with structures in the different regions.
Party leader Julius Malema also spent the weekend in KwaZulu-Natal where he met the party faithful.
The visit came days after the party’s deputy president Floyd Shivambu left the EFF to take up a post as MK party national organiser.
Malema spent the weekend in KwaZulu-Natal on a fact-finding mission to establish “scientific evidence” from branches on why the EFF lost substantial support in the province, ultimately costing it seats in the provincial and national parliaments.
A member of the party, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the party was conducting a deep introspection to determine what could have led to the losses and whether there were any internal matters that could have led to the party bleeding support.
“This is a fact finding mission.
While we understand some of the causes of our electoral setback, the party is also doing deep introspection to determine whether there is anything that it could have done internally to mitigate or contribute to those losses,” said a party member.
“From the engagements so far, the general and overwhelming feeling is that the presence of the MK Party was a huge contributor to this setback.
“But a clearer picture of the cause is going to emerge in the coming days. A report is going to be compiled about this visit and will be tabled and discussed by the top leadership,” said the member.
During the meetings with branches on Saturday, Malema said: “We lost votes and we need those votes back; we need to continue growing in the province as KZN is our province and we will never give up on this province.”
Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu, speaking on a news channel, said the EFF and all the other parties that suffered serious losses, could still claw back their lost ground.
“All political parties can still do that (get their support back) but it all depends on how they do it. Strategy is very important at this time, especially because there are other role players that were not there in 2019 (elections).
“In a situation like this, you do self-introspection, checking what you did wrong and thereafter you look at the external factors. The EFF needs to check itself. Did they achieve the goals they wanted to achieve, and if not, what are the causal factors?” Mngomezulu asked.
He said once had been established they would then have to look at the external factors.
“What other factors could have contributed to them not doing well?
And they try to come up with counter measures because those factors might still be there in 2026 and 2029.”
He said while it was true that the MK Party had caused an upset during the elections, it would be remiss of any political party to focus on the MK as a causal effect of the losses they suffered during the elections.
In the case of the EFF, he said, the departure of Floyd Shivambu does not warrant the falling apart of the organisation.
The EFF did not respond to a request for comment.
The Mercury