Ndlozi hits back at critics asking ‘where’s the EFF?’

National spokesperson of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Mbuyiseni Ndlozi took to Twitter on Friday to offer a brief explanation for the party’s apparent silence in the wake of a public protector report into billions given to apartheid-era corporations by the Reserve Bank.

The third EFF National Plenum was still under way in Kempton Park and had kicked off midweek.

Earlier this week, a former EFF member and now leader of his own small party Black First Land First (BLF), Andile Mngxitama, had asked the EFF and its president, Julius Malema, to put aside their differences and join the BLF to “occupy Absa”.

The EFF appears to have completely ignored him, aside from Friday’s tweet by Ndlozi. The party’s deputy leader, Floyd Shivambu, has in the past called Mngxitama an “untidy conman“.

Malema also told someone on Twitter in no uncertain terms that he will not occupy Absa.

I won't do it

— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) January 17, 2017

In 2015, the party embarked on what they called a “historic march” against financial institutions. The march drew about 50 000 protesters, who made their way to the Chamber of Mines and the SA Reserve Bank, with a stop at the JSE.

Malema had also said that year that the EFF would occupy Absa bank, which is now in the midst of battling long-running corruption allegations involving billions after a report about an apartheid-era “lifeboat” by the new public protector was leaked. The bank maintains it did nothing wrong in its acquisition of Bankorp in 1992. Bankorp received the Reserve Bank funds years earlier.

Malema said in 2015 that his party would occupy “all Absa branches” because the bank allegedly “stole our money on the eve of democracy”.

A retired British spy operative, Michael Oatley, had not only determined that the lifeboats were allegedly improper, he offered to get the money back for the SA government through his Ciex company, an offer that South Africa is yet to take up.

Then public protector Thuli Madonsela was asked years ago to investigate why these funds have not been recovered, and the new public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, has continued the work on that draft report, though it is unclear if the new public protector has made any meaningful changes to it. She has also made it clear that it can still change drastically ahead of her final report being made public since she is still awaiting inputs from key stakeholders.

The ANC’s Gwede Mantashe criticised Madonsela this week for allegedly not pursuing the Absa matter with the same vigour as her investigation of the Guptas, while the ANC Youth League has come out to slam the bank.

Malema said in 2015: “[We will] occupy Absa, each and every branch of Absa, until we are given a practical programme of action on how the bank is going to intervene to resolve the inequalities in society.

“We targeted Absa because it is the amalgamated banks of the Broederbond … who operated during apartheid and stole our money on the eve of democracy.”

ALSO READ: Why is the EFF so silent on the ‘Absa lifeboat’?

The EFF, however, is yet to occupy Absa. They have also not yet made a public statement after Mkhwebane’s preliminary report into Absa’s lifeboat saga indicated the bank could be forced to pay at least R2.25 billion back to the fiscus.

Others have also wondered when the EFF will weigh in on the public protector’s preliminary recommendations, though they are likely to wait until the report is made final.

Ndlozi wrote, presumably in response to Mngxitama (who says he still plans to occupy or march against Absa anyway): “When we [the EFF] chose to march to JSE, Mines & Reserve Bank we never ran a [campaign] asking where others are. We carried it on our own! #JustSaying.”

When we chose to march to JSE, Mines & Reserve Bank we never ran a camping asking where others are. We carried it on our own! #JustSaying

— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) January 20, 2017

Twitter user @ComradeOupa responded that if the EFF “cared for the poor” they would have joined Mngxitama “who is uniting Africans on this matter”. He said the “fight against ABSA is a real revolution”.

Another user, however, Tebogo ‏(@tmabaso101) told both @ComradeOupa and Mngxitama: “March on your own. He banna.”