Johannesburg - Former EFF Gauteng chairperson Mandisa Mashego has kept her future political plans under wraps as she relinquished all her leadership roles in the party.
Speaking to Johannesburg radio station Power FM on Thursday morning, Mashego said she had tendered her resignation in early February as the party’s leader in the legislature.
“The time had come. The time had come even before because I had actually resigned in 2015 and after an engagement about the resignation with the leadership, we agreed not to proceed. We sort of had some form of agreement. Well, I don’t like to discuss internal conversations because I find it a little bit unprofessional but also it can be a betrayal of confidence,” Mashego said.
Mashego’s resignation comes as she is rumoured to be among key politicians who were set to join the new political party being established by former Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba.
EFF leader Julius Malema has previously raised concerns about two chairpersons of the EFF who were holding talks with Mashaba behind the party’s back, without specifically mentioning names.
Mashego said she had been closely working with Mashaba while he was at the helm of Joburg as the EFF was voting with the DA.
“It was very important to work with him because we voted with his party,” he said.
She, however, refused to confirm or deny if she was currently working with Mashaba on a new political project.
“I cannot deny. I cannot be expected to explain who I speak to. Many people are not expected to explain who they speak to. I am not sure what Julius was referring to,” she said.
Mashego said she had overtime felt that some of the struggles she wanted to pursue sometimes went beyond the confines of the EFF.
“I am trying to better pursue them in a more flexible space where you can actually work with whoever and you are not really held back ideologically, not that your ideological framing changes. There are other pursuits that I want to be part of, such as fighting for the death penalty and I cannot do that under the EFF because the founding manifesto says that the death penalty cannot be returned to SA and I don’t agree with that,” she said.
Mashego said she was “technically still a member of the EFF”, adding that she did not want to delve into other reasons for her departure.
She, however, highlighted that her health challenges had become a concern as they made it difficult for her to execute her responsibilities.
“My physical body and looking at my age, I felt like self-preservation would be more important as well,” she said.
Mashego said she had contested for the position of secretary-general against the current incumbent Marshall Dlamini, an ally of Malema, at the EFF’s national elective congress last year despite her health challenges because she knew she was not going to make it.
“We had agreed that contestation must be allowed and it is a democratic process and it is the only way to test any organisation and its maturity and its members as well. It is even better for the victor and the winner when the democratic process has unfolded. It makes you feel very happy and confident that people wanted you and you were the people’s choice and that is what we wanted to communicate,” she said.