Cape Town — Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema, revealed he was not surprised when Dali Mpofu revealed he would leave the party to join uMkhonto weSizwe (MK).
Mpofu announced on Thursday that he joined the MK Party as he believed it was the vehicle to achieve black and progressive unity.
“I am of the view that the vehicle through which we should drive that unity is uMkhonto we Sizwe,” he said.
Malema has responded to Mpofu’s announcement and explained in an X post that the EFF would “remain standing” and was not going anywhere.
“Only two of your favourites remain and the list will be finalised. They sing beautifully and are always willing to pose for pictures and sign roll calls, but remember, their souls are long gone,” he explained.
The EFF leader then revealed on an EFF podcast that he was not surprised by Mpofu’s announcement as the advocate had previously suggested that the EFF disbands and forms an alliance with the MK Party, SABC News reported.
“There was a meeting of the opposition parties which was called by [Jacob] Zuma, so I asked Floyd [Shivambu] and Marshall [Dlamini] to attend … they went and Dali was there. Dali went to make a presentation of a paper in that first meeting, where he said the EFF must close down with the other parties and then form something under Zuma’s leadership,” Malema said.
Malema explained that Shivambu and Dlamini did not entertain the idea at the time and explained that Mpofu had not only proposed the idea, but he had written it down already.
He also revealed that the leaders of some of the smaller political parties had suggested to collapse their parties to join forces with the EFF, which at the time was the biggest opposition party, but Zuma did not agree to it. He later had further discussions with Zuma, who told him he would not endorse the EFF but instead he would be starting the MK Party.
“I said but that’s madness, you can’t do that. So that’s the thing I respect about Dali. Because he’s been open about it. So when I woke up to the news, I was like it is what it is. So this has never been a shock to me, it was just about when is it going to happen,” adds Malema.
He explained that Mpofu sent him an invite to his daughter’s birthday party, which he did not respond to, but he sent him another text to see him urgently, which he also did not respond to. Malema said Mpofu’s decision was inevitable.
“We respect his decision, there’s nothing we can do about it. He has been there, I know of the work he has been doing. This has never been a shock to me, it wa sjust about ‘when’,” he added.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
