Dirk Hartford: Battle for black unity – EFF, MK, and fragmenting ANC

South Africa's political landscape is fracturing, with splinter groups from the ANC—EFF and MK—engaged in a fierce power struggle. The EFF's upcoming National Peoples Assembly and MK's anniversary rally in KwaZulu-Natal will define their future. As Zuma's MK destabilizes ANC alliances and targets youth structures, questions loom over unity. The ANC's survival hinges on addressing inequality, while MK's rise reflects growing discontent with South Africa's political elite..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here..The seventh BizNews Conference, BNC#7, is to be held in Hermanus from March 11 to 13, 2025. The 2025 BizNews Conference is designed to provide an excellent opportunity for members of the BizNews community to interact directly with the keynote speakers, old (and new) friends from previous BNC events – and to interact with members of the BizNews team. Register for BNC#7 here..By Dirk Hartford ___STEADY_PAYWALL___.In South Africa's evolving political landscape, the cry for "black unity" has grown louder, but it now rings hollow as the once-solid factions of the ANC—EFF and MK—turn against each other in a bitter struggle for dominance. The upcoming weeks will see these splinter groups sharpening their lines of conflict, with the EFF preparing for its third National Peoples Assembly and MK marking its first anniversary in KwaZulu-Natal. The ANC, once a beacon of non-racial unity, is increasingly fragmented, with its key allies in turmoil and factions like Zuma's MK threatening to unravel the coalition. The political battlefield ahead will determine not only their survival but the future of South Africa's black political identity..With a rallying cry of "black unity" the primary splits from the ANC – the EFF and MK – are now seriously getting down to destroying "black unity" in their battle against each other and "Ramaphosa's ANC". .In two weeks time the battle lines between these protagonists ands their prospects for the future will be more clearly drawn. .The EFF will have had its 3rd so-called National Peoples Assembly (NPA) since its founding 11 years ago; MK will have commemorated its first anniversary with a rally in its heartland in KZN and the ANC's key alliance party the SACP will have its 5th Special National Congress since the advent of democracy behind it..All these key "black" actors are essentially the non-racial ANC of Mandela in dismembered form 30 years later. If they were still united together under the ANC they would have won the elections in May as decisively as they did in 1994..The need for "black unity" now is only because there is no such thing as black unity. The only genuine non-racial democratic parties around these days of any significance, in terms of actual membership, are the DA and maybe the PA. No matter the non-racial constitutions every political party in SA has..And the only serious non-racial political project is the GNU led by Cyril Ramaphosa's ANC. That's what non-racialism means. – different races and their political manifestations working together. Not having Carl Niehaus in your team..The 112-year-old ANC is continuing to be torn apart bit by bit. Everyone wants what is has. A brand representing the liberation of the African people from colonialism and apartheid. That still remains priceless. Ask Zuma why and he will tell you in isiZulu..The SACP, the ANC's key alliance partner in one form or another for over a century, was essentially – lets face it – a way to accommodate whites and Indians especially in the Alliance and the liberation struggle all those years..That history is now possibly ending. The SACP seems poised, if its general secretary Solly Mapaila is to be believed, to abandon Ramaphosa's ANC electorally at least because of its alliance with "white monopoly capitalists" in the GNU with the DA..The sooner the better. The SACP is a deeply Stalinist useless monstrosity whose main achievement in the past 30 years has been to destroy Cosatu as an independent workforce and to police the Alliance in regard to who was politically acceptable or not in its ranks and in government civil service..Left to its own devices it will wither on the vine. Truly, the SACP is completely incapable of mobilising anyone to do anything. Give just one example from the past 30 years. You won't find one. .Unlike MK especially. And maybe EFF, to whom we now turn..Read more: 🔒 Mandela's vision of Black unity fades as SA closes door to migrants.EFF creator and leader Julius Malema is now unwillingly forced to follow Thabo's Mbeki's still-ignored dictum for the rejuvenation of the ANC – "Better fewer, but better"..And it might yet stand him and the EFF in good stead in the battles ahead. Any organisation wanting the kind of revolution the EFF sprouts needs a battalion of battle-hardened loyal cadres to pull it off..The upcoming 3rd so-called NPA will show whether fewer is going to be better for the EFF..So far things are not looking great. Despite claiming that he looks like a 30-something with glowing skin, the 43-year-old Malema is gaunt and haggard..Who wouldn't be? The wrecking ball that is Zuma is now wreaking the same havoc in the EFF as he has already done in the ANC and the Alliance as a whole, not to mention Inkatha..A bunch of senior leaders, all of them tainted by corruption and – bar possibly Floyd Shivambu – all politically useless, have defected to Zuma's MK party. Fear and loathing have been unleashed in the EFF. .The NPA will show how, and if, the EFF is to survive the dark night of its soul it's .currently going through. It will all depend on the extent Malema's dictatorial leadership is still able to galvanise a bunch of capable cadre around him..Despite huge commonalities on economic issues between the EFF and MK – like nationalising everything that moves basically – they are quite different in important respects..EFF is genuinely pan-Africanist. It has an organisation with roots not only in all of South Africa's provinces but also in several African countries. In this respect it's basically unique in Africa..It is modern and rooted primarily among SA's youth, which is a good place to be organised. It controls most university SRCs, for example..Its organisational structure has been built over 11 years. If that means anything, it might survive the chaos Zuma's MK has unleashed on it..The "leaders" of EFF who have crossed to MK could also be EFF getting rid of a real liability. Every single one of them has been fingered for corruption to malfeasance of one kind or another. Batter fewer then better..Not that Malema himself is clean. In the swamp which is the ANC and all its offshoots, Malema himself was revealed most tellingly by journalist Pauli van Wyk in the way he spent the VBS money Floyd Shivambu and his brother organised for him..Bourgeois décadence and spending of a kind most whites can only dream of not to mention the long-suffering masses..The context is the ANC and its 112-year-old brand. Almost everybody, bar the DA and the Freedom Front Plus, has had some association with that brand in the past. .But none – not PAC, Inkatha, UDM, PA, Cope, MWT etc – have had the impact of the EFF and MK when they split from the mother body..EFF is less attached to seizing the ANC brand for itself than MK. Make no mistake, Zuma's MK still has as its primary focus seizing power in the ANC from Ramaphosa..MK is currently wreaking havoc in the ANC and its alliance partners. Chaos is Zuma's great skill. .The SACP is considering running independently in the 2026 municipal elections because it's against Ramaphosa's GNU, despite its cadres serving in the ANC government. It's essentially split down the middle on these issues..Cosatu and Sanco are busy being split by MK forces as we speak. Sadtu and Nehawu in particular. MK is also targeting youth structures where the EFF has been dominant..Basically "Ramaphosa's ANC" is being stripped of any remnants it has from the African nationalist liberation tradition by MK especially. The RET faction that is sympathetic to MK but remains in the ANC only does so to protect its own economic interests via government jobs and positions..The prognosis for MK is difficult to put a finger on. Anything is possible when it comes to Zuma especially. But it does seem that MK and Zuma are succeeding (where all others have failed) in tapping into the deep-rooted discontent with the ANC leadership both within the organisation and in the electorate in general..MK's first-anniversary celebration at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on 16 December is going to be a show of force. MK's first priority is to take power in KZN where it is the biggest party in terms of electoral support.But despite its protestations to the contrary, it remains overwhelmingly a Zulu nationalist party rooted in KZN. Its challenge is to build a national presence and a national organisation. That is what Zuma singled out Floyd Shivambu for and what he does have a track record for in his time in the EFF..All the other defectors from the EFF, and new additions like ex-Judge Hlope and Brian Molefe et al from state capture projects, are not politicians with organisational experience..They are being billed as leading lights in the black community with experience ranging from the judiciary to running parastatals or human rights organisations. A kind of creme da la creme of black experience from the past 30 years of democracy...They are all these things though every single one of them has also been fingered for corruption of one kind or another. Through this prism, they are a coalition of the wounded from the Zuma era all carrying the cross of victimhood that Zuma himself is famous for..It remains to be seen whether this unwieldy and chaotic organisation can turn its electoral gains into real and growing support among the electorate nationwide.. Schadenfreude is not an emotion to indulge in when considering the travails of the so-called "left" Progressive Caucus, and the EFF in particular, because the conditions that give them life are still completely dominant in South Africa..If the ANC-led GNU (or DA/ANC coalition) does not soon start to make real inroads into addressing the plight of the vast majority of South Africa, then expect the support of the progressive caucus, and MK in particular, to only grow..Read also:.🔒 RW Johnson: GNU must sober up; no economic growth without policy changesGayton McKenzie: Only a united GNU can stop a Zuma tsunamiSA's unity government talks: Navigating contradictions for stability

Dirk Hartford: Battle for black unity – EFF, MK, and fragmenting ANC

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