Economic Freedom Fighters

It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema, and his allies, in 2013. Malema is President of the EFF, heading the Central Command Team which serves as the central structure of the party. It is currently the third-largest party in both houses of the Parliament of South Africa. The party is also the official opposition in three of South Africa's nine provincial legislatures.

Economic Freedom Fighters
Abbreviation	EFF
President	Julius Malema
Chairperson	Veronica Mente
Secretary-General	Marshall Dlamini
Spokesperson	Sinawo Tambo Leigh-Ann Mathys
Deputy President	Floyd Shivambu
Deputy Secretary-General	Poppy Mailola
Treasurer-General	Omphile Maotwe
Founders	Julius Malema Floyd Shivambu
Founded	26 July 2013 (2013-07-26)
Split from	African National Congress
Headquarters	119 Marshall Street, Johannesburg, Gauteng
Student wing	EFFSC
Membership (2022)	1,085,843
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Black nationalism Fanonism Sankarism Pan-Africanism Anti-capitalism Anti-imperialism Anti-Zionism
Political position	Far-left
Colours	Red
Slogan	"Our land and jobs, now!"
National Assembly	44 / 400
National Council of Provinces	11 / 90
Pan-African Parliament	1 / 5 (South African seats)
Provincial Legislatures	50 / 430
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality (council)	30 / 270
Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (council)	6 / 120
City of Cape Town (council)	10 / 231
Website
effonline.org
Politics of South Africa Political parties Elections

Foundation and early history

At a 26 July 2013 press briefing in Soweto, Malema announced that the new party had over 1000 members, double the 500 required for registration with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The EFF is now registered with the IEC, after an objection to its registration by the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) was dismissed in September 2013.

In 2015, the EFF suspended MP Lucky Twala and expelled three MPs, Mpho Ramakatsa, Andile Mngxitama and Khanyisile Litchfield-Tshabalala. Mngxitama formed his own party, named Black First Land First (BLF), while Litchfield-Tshabalala joined the United Democratic Movement. Malema has been chiefly accused by former members of purging his critics to consolidate his power, thus ruling the party with an iron fist. Malema acknowledged this criticism in a press conference and went on to say that the party should have expelled more ill-disciplined members.

Recent actions and activities

On 6 August 2015, the EFF announced that it has secured a Constitutional Court case for its "#PayBackTheMoney" campaign against Jacob Zuma. The case was heard on 9 February 2016. The judgement was released by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and stated that the then-President had violated the Constitution of South Africa, along with the Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete. The President was given 60 days to fulfill the requirements of the Public Protector Thuli Madonsela.

On 27 February 2018, the EFF tabled a motion in the National Assembly to amend the Constitution so as to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation. The motion, brought by the EFF leader Julius Malema, was adopted with a vote of 241 in support, and 83 against. The only parties who did not support the motion were the Democratic Alliance, Freedom Front Plus, Congress of the People and the ACDP. Land expropriation is one of the EFF's seven cardinal pillars.

In 2018, the party's student wing, the EFF Student Command came in first at several Student Representative Council elections, defeating the African National Congress (ANC)-aligned South African Students Congress (SASCO) at the Durban University of Technology, the University of Zululand and Mangosuthu University of Technology. They also won in Cape Town, the District Six, Mowbray and Bellville Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) campuses with landslide victories. They also won the University of Cape Town. Peter Keetse, president of the EFFSC, said the win was a warning shot for what was going to happen in 2019 national general elections. He said the youth were the influencers of the future: "this is an indication of what is to follow".

In March 2023 the party attempted to organise a national shutdown in protest of loadshedding and calling for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to step down. The shutdown was widely reported as ineffective and involved an number of instances of fake news spread by party supporters.

Marxist–Leninist ideology

 

The EFF "draws inspiration from the broad Marxist–Leninist tradition and Fanonian schools of thought in their analyses of the state, imperialism, culture and class contradictions in every society", according to its constitution. The EFF states that it takes inspiration from Burkinabe President Thomas Sankara in terms of both style and Marxist ideology. Prominent EFF member Jackie Shandu declared the party a "proudly Sankarist formation".

Economics

It criticises the African National Congress and their primary opposition, the Democratic Alliance, for their allegedly pro-business stances, which it claims have sold out the black people of South Africa to capitalism as cheap labour. However, after 2016 local elections in South Africa, the EFF has suggested that they would back the Democratic Alliance in hung-metro areas, while reiterating that they would not be entering into a coalition with any political party.

It promises to tackle corruption, provide quality social housing, and provide free primary healthcare and education for all, as well as proposing to expropriate White-owned farmland, nationalise the mining and banking sectors, double welfare grants and the minimum wage, and end the proposed toll system for highways.

The EFF has been vocal in its criticism of black business owners and black owners of mining companies in South Africa. In an address at the Oxford Union in November 2015, Malema spoke out against billionaire mining company owner Patrice Motsepe. Further protests in 2015, the EFF delivered demands that included the socialisation of the mining sector and called for more explicit targets for the 26% BEE ownership required by law. The EFF is a vocal proponent of expanding the role of South African state-owned enterprises in the national economy. Malema addressed a crowd in Marikana, Rustenburg in the platinum mining area, blaming mining companies and calling out platinum mining company Lonmin in particular, for poverty in the region.

The EFF was the only parliamentary party that opposed the 2018 political party funding bill; a funding transparency law that requires political parties to publish who they receive funding from.

Foreign policy

Within Africa

The EFF presents itself as a Pan-Africanist party and supports the proposal for a United States of Africa. In respect to this, the EFF and Malema have repeatedly praised former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, promising to implement many of the policies in South Africa that Gaddafi implemented in Libya. The party is against presence of the American military bases in Africa, most notably in Botswana. Prior to forming the EFF, Malema had called for the overthrow of President Ian Khama's government in Botswana.

The EFF has been strongly critical of the government of Eswatini, one of the last absolute monarchies in the world, advocating for democratic reforms in the country and the removal of borders between it and South Africa. The party has supported a number of efforts to support change in Eswatini ranging from trying to shutdown the Eswatini-South Africa border with protest action to criticizing the electoral process in the country.

The EFF is critical of France's presence in Africa; in 2022 the party picketed outside of and ultimately barricaded the country's embassy in Pretoria. The French ambassador to South Africa criticised the EFF for scapegoating France as the supposed source of all Africa's problems. Following the death of Queen Elizabeth the EFF announced that they would not mourn her passing instead stating that "she never once acknowledged the atrocities her family inflicted on native people that Britain invaded across the world."

Outside Africa

The EFF is against Zionism, is strongly critical of Israel and its conflict with the Palestinians; referring to the country as "evil" and advocating for its destruction. During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war the leader of the EFF Julius Malema stated the party's support for Hamas and that should the party win the 2024 election they would send arms to assist the organisation.

The EFF officially supports Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, commending what they refer to as Russia's "anti-imperialist programme" against NATO. During the Lady R incident the party stated their support for any prospect of South African exports of military equipment to Russia that might assist in its invasion of Ukraine.

The party supports closer bilateral relations between South Africa and China whilst considering Taiwan to be an "integral part" of the People's Republic of China; it has referred to the Chinese Communist Party as the "torch-bearer for all Marxist–Leninist formations in the world".

LGBT+ rights

The EFF supports the rights of the LGBT+ community in Africa and officially condemns laws that seek to ban homosexuality. The party was critical of Uganda's 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill and led a protest outside of the Ugandan embassy in South Africa urging Uganda's president not to sign it into law. However later in 2023 the party was strongly criticized by members of the South African LGBT+ community for inviting Patrick Lumumba, a Kenyan professor known for making homophobic statements and who is publicly supportive of Uganda's 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Bill, to deliver the party's 10th anniversary lecture at the University of Cape Town.

According to a November 2013 Ipsos survey, the party's supporters are younger than average, with 49% being younger than 24, overwhelmingly black (99%) and mostly male, with women representing only 33% of the support base. A disproportionate number of supporters live in Malema's home province of Limpopo (28%), while only 1% live in KwaZulu-Natal, a more populous province. A 2018 survey conducted by social research company Citizen Surveys found that around 70% of EFF supporters were between the ages of 18 and 34, overwhelmingly black (97%), mostly based in major metropolitan cities (48%), predominantly male (62%) with 43% of their support base located in Gauteng Province. The party was expected to make an impact in the 2014 general election, taking between 4 per cent and 8 per cent of the national vote. This was potentially enough for the party to hold the balance of power in provinces where the governing African National Congress was in danger of losing its absolute majority. The ANC retained its absolute majority whilst the EFF got 6.35% of the vote in the 2014 election.

High-profile members of the Central Command Team include Floyd Shivambu, Fana Mokoena and Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (National Spokesperson). Controversial businessman Kenny Kunene joined the Central Command Team in July 2013 before resigning from the Central Command Team on 20 August 2013 and from the organisation on 26 August 2013. On 4 November 2013, it was announced that Dali Mpofu had left the African National Congress (ANC) after 33 years of membership and joined the EFF.

Student wing

The Economic Freedom Fighters Students Command (EFFSC) is the party's student wing, founded on 16 June 2015. It campaigns for free education, universal access to education and the elimination of registration fees, among other things.

Allegations of foreign ties

The ANC has accused the Zimbabwean ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), of supporting the EFF in order to destabilise the ANC.

In 2019 President Cyril Ramaphosa stated during a debate in Parliament that he had received numerous intelligence reports that the EFF "is an MI6 project" (a project of the foreign arm of British intelligence agencies). The party's chairperson, Dali Mpofu, said he would shut down the EFF if the claims turned out to be true but he was removed as chairman in the same year. The president of the EFF, Julius Malema, never responded to the allegation either in Parliament or in the press.

Alleged corruption

Tenders

A number of articles published by investigative journalists have accused the party of using their influence to earn improper payments from government suppliers in cities where the EFF has significant representative power. An investigation by the amaBhungane centre for investigative journalism stated that the EFF received R500,000 in kickbacks from a company in return for a R1.26 billion contract to manage a fleet of vehicles used by the City of Johannesburg with tacit acquiescence of the Democratic Alliance. Another investigation alleges that the party improperly benefited from the awarding of a fuel supply contract for the City of Tshwane netting the party R15 million from successful contractors.

VBS Mutual Bank

Following the publication of a South African Reserve Bank report into the collapse of VBS Mutual Bank implicating EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu's brother media reports came out alleging that Shivambu received R10 million in illicit payments from VBS prior to it being placed under curatorship in March 2018. Prior to the publication of the Reserve Bank's report the EFF criticised the Reserve Bank for placing VBS under curatorship and accused it of victimising VBS on racial grounds. The EFF stated that it had seen no evidence that Shivambu received the R10 million and called for government to recapitalise VBS Mutual Bank whilst also taking legal action against those mentioned in the Reserve Bank report. A follow-up investigation by the Daily Maverick alleged that the EFF illicitly received R1.8 million of VBS money through a network of proxy companies with the party's leadership (notably Shivambu and Malema) also illicitly receiving money though this network. After being approached by the Mail & Guardian for comment on his personal financial expenses Floyd Shivambu admitted that money from VBS, channeled through his brother, was used to buy his Range Rover Sport valued at R680,000. By June 2021 Shivambu's brother had repaid R4.55 million and admitted to taking VBS money.

A follow-up investigation by the Daily Maverick found that R454,000 of VBS money was used to pay for the 2017 EFF birthday celebration. It also found that a total of R16.1 million was channeled through a Shivambu associated company largely for the benefit of the EFF. An additional investigation traced financial statements from an account that received VBS funds and allegedly controlled by Julius Malema; leading the author of the investigation to estimate that Malema received and directly benefited from R5.3-million illegally taken from VBS. Additional media reports in October 2019, alleged that the party received R4 million of VBS funds into a slush fund that was channeled to Malema via a company named Santaclara Trading.

A former member of the EFF's leadership accused the party leadership of accepting donations from VBS Mutual Bank prior to its collapse. The South African Parliament’s joint ethics committee found that Shivambu had received at least R180,000, in three payments, of VBS money from his brother's company Sgameka Projects Pty Ltd in 2017; but found no evidence that Malema received any VBS related funds.

Malema has forwarded a conspiracy theory that the VBS collapse was part of a plot intended to damage the EFF.

Connections to violence

In October 2018, a group of seventeen former EFF members and councillors in the Northern Cape accused the party's senior leadership of corruption and sexual exploitation of more junior female party members. Four months later, two former female employees of the EFF claimed that party leadership had intimidated and engaged in acts of bullying behaviour towards them and other party staff members.

Following the temporary removal of eight EFF provincial MPs from Gauteng Provincial Legislature, a large number of EFF members protesting against the ruling stormed the provincial legislature building.

During violent university protests characterized by arson and vandalism, EFF Youth leader Omphile Seleke posted instructions on how to make petrol bombs on social media.

A Vodacom store in Polokwane was damaged and looted by EFF members following a presentation by Corruption Watch at the 2018 Vodacom Awards, which included an image depicting EFF leaders Malema and Shivambu as "abusers of Democracy".

Following the 2019 State of the Nation address in parliament by President Ramaphosa, EFF MP Marshall Dlamini physically assaulted a member of the presidential security team after a disagreement between EFF MPs and security.

During an October 2022 speech to members of the Western Cape EFF branch, Malema stated that party members should "never be scared to kill" in pursuit of what Malema described as the party's revolution. The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) ruled that the statement—along with seven others made by the EFF, such as "a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate"—constituted hate speech. The EFF disputed the SAHRC's ruling.

Intimidation of journalists and the media

Journalist Ranjeni Munusamy lodged an affidavit in December 2018 detailing threatening remarks, intimidation, harassment, and personal attacks made by party members, including Malema, towards her and other journalists targeted by the party. The affidavit was supported by the South African National Editors Forum and other notable South African journalists such as Max du Preez, Pauli VanWyk, Adriaan Jurgens Basson, and Barry Bateman. The EFF denied any involvement in attacks on Munusamy and other journalists.

South African political journalist Karima Brown was the target of verbal abuse and threats of violence by EFF supporters following the EFF's publication of her personal contact details. This led to charges being laid by the police and Equity Court against the party, amid speculation that the instance might be in breach of South Africa's Electoral Code of Conduct. Parties in breach of the code risk having their registration to run in elections revoked. Regarding the incident, Malema stated that journalists have no privileges, accused Brown of being a state agent, and denied that EFF supporters were making threatening remarks. The court found in favour of Brown and ruled that the EFF had contravened the South African electoral code by inciting its supporters to harass Brown.

Following the publication of an article by the amaBhungane Centre for investigative journalism looking into allegations of corruption by the EFF, the party controversially announced that it would be banning both amaBhungane and the Daily Maverick from its public events and that they would be treated as enemies of the party.

In 2018, the party's deputy president, Floyd Shivambu, was filmed and charged with assaulting Netwerk24 journalist Adrian de Kock in Parliament. In January 2020, the EFF was forced to publicly apologize and pay damages following a Gauteng High Court judgment that the party had made and spread false allegations that two journalists, Thandeka Gqubule and Anton Harber, had been apartheid-era U.S. 'StratCom' agents.

Legal issues

In May 2019, the EFF was found guilty of defamation of character by the South Gauteng High Court and ordered to pay R500,000 in damages to former Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. Manuel brought the EFF and its leader Malema to court after they had alleged that the appointment of Edward Kieswetter as commissioner of SARS by Manuel was the result of nepotism. Following the judgement, Manuel stated that he would be donating the R500,000 in damages to victims of the VBS Mutual Bank scandal in which the EFF is alleged to have participated.

Following a string of court-case losses for inciting supporters to commit acts of intimidation (against journalist Brown), land invasion (which case was brought by AfriForum), or defamation of character (against ANC politician Manuel), the party was left with combined court costs amounting to almost R1 million.

Attacking the judiciary

The judicial monitoring organisation Judges Matter and the South African Ministry of Justice have condemned the EFF and its leader Malema for making unsubstantiated comments that, according to Judges Matter, are "an attack on the judiciary, a threat to judicial independence, and almost certainly a violation of the Constitution". This followed accusations Malema made in a criminal case against him for illegally discharging a firearm in a stadium. Malema accused the magistrate of incompetence and corruption when the magistrate refused to dismiss the case. Malema went on to make unsubstantiated accusations that the judgement was part of a conspiracy against him or his party. In addition to Malema, other senior EFF members—such as Dali Mpofu and Griffiths Madonsela—have made accusations, without evidence, against the judiciary and attacked the character of individual judges.

Racism and ethnic prejudice

Anti-Indian racism

The South African Minority Rights Equality Movement initiated a court case against Malema for inciting racial sentiment after he stated that a "majority of Indians are racist" at an EFF Youth Day rally in 2018.

The EFF was criticized by the South African Council of Churches, the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, and the ANC for comparing Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to a "dog" while protesting against the Zondo Commission inquiry into government corruption. The EFF also accused the anti-corruption investigators of being members of an "Indian cabal", in reference to Indian South Africans making up the investigative team. The EFF also retaliated against Gordhan by accusing him and his daughter of corruption. These accusations were proven false and Gordhan laid charges of defamation against Malema, stating that the EFF's "determined defence of corruption and the corrupt, using personal attacks, racism and alleged hate speech is not acceptable and must be challenged". The Equality Court declared that the EFF was not guilty of hate speech in its statements relating to Gordhan. The EFF leadership and its supporters have been criticized for using Gordhan's second name, Jamnadas, as a racial dog whistle to highlight his Indian ethnicity in a pejorative way and question his status as a South African on social media.

ANC member and government minister, the late Jackson Mthembu, accused the EFF of being racist and having a "deep-seated hatred" for Indian South Africans when he criticized the party's pursuit of Gordhan during a parliamentary debate.

Anti-white racism

Since its establishment, the EFF has made a number of controversial racially- or ethnically-based statements about a number of South African minority groups, particularly white South Africans. The party has been criticized for adopting a biological interpretation of race that allows the EFF to easily generalize and attribute racism to particular groups or individuals based on their demographic classification; they are in turn targeted for racial prejudice by the party. This has had a polarizing and radicalizing impact on South African politics. Leaders of the party have targeted a number of public servants, journalists, and communities based on their race.

During a 2016 political rally, EFF leader Julius Malema stated, "We are not calling for the slaughter of white people, at least for now." When asked for comment by a news agency, the ANC spokesperson, Zizi Kodwa, stated that there would be no comment from the ANC, as "[Malema] was addressing his own party supporters". While still the ANCYL leader, Malema was taken to the Equality Court by AfriForum for repeatedly singing "dubul' ibhunu", meaning "shoot the Boer". The ANC supported Malema, though AfriForum and the ANC reached a settlement before the appeal case was due to be argued in the Supreme Court of Appeal. A later 2022 hate-speech case brought against Malema by AfriForum for singing the same song found that the song was not hate speech.

South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission disqualified EFF councillor Thabo Mabotja from the 2016 local elections due to a tweet by Mabotja calling for the hacking and killing of white South Africans. The EFF formally welcomed the commission's decision and renounced Mabotja.

Speaking at a political rally in 2018, Malema told supporters to "go after a white man", a reference to Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip, adding that "we are cutting the throat of whiteness". This led to the Democratic Alliance accusing the EFF's leader of racism and not sharing the more tolerant views of South Africans broadly. The EFF later stated that the reference to the "throat of whiteness" was "a metaphorical reference to destroying white privilege" and was "not referring or advocating harm to white people".

Following the death of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Malema tweeted a number of controversial quotes from the late Mugabe that were malicious towards white people, most notably "The only white man you can trust is a dead white man." The SAHRC condemned the quote and stated that it would be taking Malema to court for spreading hate speech.

Ideological criticisms

Accusations of militarism and dictatorial practices

In 2013, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa criticized the EFF's "military command structure" and its failure to clarify who should take ownership over nationalized sections of the economy. In April 2019, a former member of the EFF's central command, Thembinkosi Rawula, accused senior party leaders of dictatorial leadership practices. The EFF denied Rawula's accusation and stated that it would sue him for defamation as well as make the party's financial information public.

Allegations of fascism and anti-feminism

The party's practices and racial views have been widely defined as "fascist" by journalists, commentators, academics, and other political parties. Some commentators have compared its leader Julius Malema, and the party's cult of personality surrounding him, to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The ANC’s National Executive Committee has described the EFF as a "proto-fascist party run dictatorially". Gareth van Onselen, who worked for the Democratic Alliance for twelve years, accused the party of being "fascist" due to its legacy of racial prejudice in a 2018 article. In mid-June 2016, a group calling themselves "Anonymous Africa", claiming to be associated with the hacktivist group Anonymous, condemned the party and perpetrated a DDoS attack on the EFF's website, stating the reason to be the party's "nationalist socialist rhetoric". South African academic Vishwas Satgar has argued that the EFF is not comparable to fascist parties of the twentieth century, but that it is instead a black neo-fascist party based on the ideologies of centralized state ownership and control along with African nativism. According to Satgar, its appeals to "race baiting, nativist nationalism, hypermasculinity, and disposition to violence are similar in these respects to the new fascisms rising in Europe, the United States, and India."

The EFF's leader has been criticized in the media for the party's lack of focus on feminist politics, with some critics accusing the party of anti-feminism. Feminists have argued that the party's militaristic language undermines its commitment to women's rights, while disaffected female party members have criticized the EFF for having a patriarchal power structure.

National elections

National Assembly

Election	Total votes	Share of vote	Seats	+/–	Government
2014	1,169,259	6.35%	25 / 400	25	in opposition
2019	1,881,521	10.79%	44 / 400	19	in opposition

National Council of Provinces

Election	Total # of seats won	+/–
2014	7 / 90	7
2019	11 / 90	4

Provincial elections

Municipal elections

• Black First Land First
• Economic Freedom Fighters of Swaziland
• Economic Freedom Party
• Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters
• Pan Africanist Congress of Azania
• Socialist Party of Azania
• Workers and Socialist Party