Will Manyi and EFF’s relationship last?

A marriage of convenience. That’s how the new relationship between the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Jacob Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi could be described.

EFF leader Julius Malema and Manyi seem to have little in common except for their mutual hatred for President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Malema hates the Guptas with a passion; and Manyi hates EFF funder and cigarette smuggler Adriano Mazzotti.

30 years

The ANC has been Manyi’s political home for about 30 years, and he has spent almost four years as a leader of the African Transformation Movement (ATM).

Manyi left the ANC just before the 2019 general elections. At the time, he described the party as captured and having overstayed its welcome.

In line with Manyi, ATM has been against Ramaphosa since its inception. However, with just two seats in parliament, there has been speculation that the party was the ceiling of Manyi’s political ambitions after he failed to rise to active politics through the ATM.

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‘Unthinkable’

But Manyi did the unthinkable on Friday by joining the EFF. Jumping ship to a left-wing revolutionary political party came as a real surprise.

Many would have expected him to have instead toppled ATM president Vuyolwethu Zungula from his position, instead of joining the EFF.

As recently as 2017, the EFF was at the forefront of calls to boycott the ANN7 news channel and The New Age newspaper following the sale to Manyi by the Guptas.

Manyi, who was a former government spokesperson, was continuing with “the business of fake news and reporting”, the EFF said at the time.

But relations have since improved between the EFF and Manyi, as he participated in the party’s recent national shutdown.

Warm welcome

Although the EFF has warmly welcomed him to its ranks, one is left wondering if Manyi’s relationship with the party’s top brass will be a lasting one.

It is not hidden that Malema runs the party as his own and with an iron fist. Malema doesn’t take well to criticism, and one never lasts in the party if he or she disagrees with him.

Therefore, the question is: will Manyi be another Malema “ice boy” – a term used for his “yes men” and follow the lead of the boss?

Opposition within the EFF is not tolerated and he can ask Kenny Kunene, who is now Patriotic Alliance deputy president and City of Joburg member of the mayoral committee.

Hopefully, Manyi will toe the line if he wants to survive in the party. And if he doesn’t toe the party line and steals the spotlight from the party leader, Malema won’t hesitate to get rid of him.

For at the end of the day, Manyi brings nothing to the EFF. In fact, Manyi being in the EFF is more beneficial for him than it is for the EFF.

The EFF is bringing a vast pool of opportunities for him, to the point that he might even end up as an EFF representative in parliament even if he doesn’t sway the ATM’s votes to the EFF.

With Manyi’s position as head of policy in ATM, he should have embarked on ideas that would have made the electorate identify itself with the party.

Running away

In this way, he would have helped the party to grow. But having failed to do that, he is now running away because he couldn’t bring transformation in the party, and this shows how ineffective he was when it comes to doing groundwork.

All he wants to do now is to capitalise on the EFF’s fortunes and benefit in the 2024 general elections. Manyi’s move has nothing to do with serving the people of South Africa.

It is to cushion himself from the ANC’s sidelining shenanigans, the ATM’s lack of growth and his personal ambition for office.

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