Floyd Shivambu blames white capitalists for EFF’s poor election results

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Deputy President Floyd Shivambu on Friday said a campaign to delegitimise his party was to blame for the red berets’ poor election results this year.

The EFF’s support dropped in the 2024 national and provincial elections. This was largely attributed to the rise of Jacob Zuma’s MK party, which took voters from the EFF, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

‘White capitalists delegitimised the EFF’

Shivambu, however, told students at Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley that there was another reason for the EFF’s failure to grow its support. He said there was a campaign by “white capitalists” to  “delegitimise” his party ahead of the elections.

“In the 2024 elections, and prior to that, the white capitalist establishment invested a lot of resources to delegitimise the Economic Freedom Fighters through social media, through mainstream media, and through everything else that they do.

“We were not adequately prepared to counter an ideological political onslaught against the organisation,” he said.

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He also took a swipe at other opposition parties, accusing them of working together to bring the EFF down rather than unseating the ANC.

“Part of the reason why the EFF did not grow in these elections is because there was consented ideological warfare against the organisation. For the first time, you had opposition parties who were not opposing the sitting government; all of them were opposing the EFF.”

Watch: Shivambu blames capitalist campaign for EFF not growing

Shivambu made these comments while giving a lecture at Sol Plaatje University ahead of the EFF’s 11^th anniversary celebration at AR Abass Sports Ground in Kimberley on Saturday.

He singled out the DA and ActionSA for their criticism during the elections. He even accused ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba of being paid for tweeting about the EFF.

“The DA’s primary agenda in the 2024 election was the EFF. ActionSA, Herman Mashaba, I think he was paid per tweet because every day it was EFF this, EFF that.”

Malema previously blamed ‘negative sentiments’

Although EFF leader Julius Malema on 1 June said his party needed to do some “self-reflection” as elections results were being released, he also alluded to “negative sentiments” from “racists” and the media hurting his party.

He also acknowledged that his party lost votes because of the “commendable and decisive rise of the MK party”.

Malema said the EFF previously benefitted from Zuma’s supporters after he left the ANC.

“They came to us, not in the form of membership, but in voting. They voted for the EFF. That is why the numbers of the EFF immediate after [2019 elections] shocked us, especially in KZN.

“Those people were never ours; they were Zuma’s people.”

ALSO READ: Malema ‘won’t resign’ after EFF’s election decline

Additional reporting by Kyle Zeeman