Galeshewe, Northern Cape - Red berets were reduced to ashes as EFF members in the Northern Cape on Thursday turned their backs on the new party, burning its signature red memorabilia after re-joining the ANC.
ANC regional secretary Webster Dichaba welcomed back 80 members who he said “realised that the ANC was their only political home” during a catered breakfast in Galeshewe.
He added that the 80 members who were coming back “home” were part of a bigger programme that would see the return of 300 ANC members that left the party for the EFF before the elections.
However, only a handful of members took part in burning EFF T-shirts, berets and membership cards, while other, also supposed “re-joiners”, cringed at the idea of setting the sought-after EFF memorabilia alight, even while wearing their new ANC T-shirts.
Dichaba welcomed the decision of former EFF members to return to its ranks and said that this was the result of serious engagements over a period of time between the ANC and the EFF members.
“The ANC in the Frances Baard Region is very grateful and overwhelmed to welcome back our former members and that really shows that the ANC is the only party that, with undisputed struggle credentials, produced towering figures who continue to selflessly serve this gigantic movement as we enter the second phase of radical economic transformation,” Dichaba said.
Leading the walk back to the ANC was Kabelo Mzolo, former EFF Provincial Command Team (PCT) organiser.
“We have finally come to our senses and realised that our trust in the EFF was misplaced. We have reflected and saw that the policies of EFF were placed in the wrong hands. Why feed pigs when our father owns a mansion,” Mzolo asked.
Mzolo added that there were structural problems in the EFF Northern Cape “from the top down”.
We have tried to engage with the province’s leadership, but have been shunned, ridiculed and branded. After the election, the provincial structure became irrelevant. The party did not even go back to the people and thank them for their votes and it quickly became a internal power struggle for positions. The EFF is like an flat spare-tyre – useless,” Mzolo said.
EFF provincial leader, Aubrey Baartman, called Thursday’s “walk-over” a “scripted song-and-dance show by the ANC”.
“Mzolo and his singular cronies are welcome to leave. It is a good thing that they have made their departure public, as they were previously removed from the EFF after trying to create sub-structures within the organisation. They have been considered as non-members since June this year after causing divisions and disruptions within the EFF,” Baartman said.
He claimed that the EFF in the province was stronger than ever.
“We are currently setting up branches throughout the province and with the minimum of 100 members required to form a branch, the province already has close to 10 000 signed up members in the 95 established branches,” Baartman said.
He added that the EFF was in the process of establishing a further 95 branches in the Northern Cape.
Baartman also called for proof that 80 to 300 EFF members re-joined the ANC, as he said that the party was “grossly” inflating this number and that he is only aware of a few isolated cases of defection from the party.
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