Benny Mayengani quits EFF position because of Ringo Madlingozi – report

Sunday World has revealed the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) apparently have one less local musician to count among their councillor ranks after Tsonga star Benny Mayengani quit as a Johannesburg councillor two months ago.

They report that the claimed reason for Mayengani’s departure was that fellow musician Ringo Madlingozi was preferred over him to go to parliament as one of the EFF’s 44 MPs following the May elections.

The EFF confirmed the councillor’s resignation, but said that their records still held that Mayengani was a party member.

Other EFF members the tabloid spoke to claimed Mayengani had been “ill-disciplined” and “threw his toys” over what he perceived as a snub from the party.

Apparently he believed he is more popular than Ringo because he “fills up stadiums”, and so should have been sent to parliament instead, or at least along with Ringo.

EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said, however, that leadership and senior positions in the party had been arrived at through a democratic process at their list conference.

Last year, EFF leader Julius Malema defended Mayengani after rapper Cassper Nyovest filed a trademark dispute over the Tsonga musician’s use of the hashtag #FillUp and the concept of filling up stadiums that has been popularised by Nyovest.

The EFF also issued a statement saying the rapper was bullying Mayengani over the trademark dispute.

(Edited by Charles Cilliers)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.