The second elective congress of the Economics Freedom Fighters (EFF) that took place in mid-December 2019 once again displayed the party’s Janus-faced politics. What, it might be asked, is a Janus-faced political party or politician? With its origins in Greek-Roman mythology, it refers to a two-faced monstrosity that looks in opposite directions at the same time.
Even though their December 2019 congress was advertised as a National People’s Assembly, it was anything but a genuine assembly of the people for the people. Restricted to EFF devotees, it was in effect a grandstand for its Commander-in-Chief, Julius Malema, to hurl insults and marching orders at more than 3000 provincial party delegates. It is unclear how scandals about ghost membership, fake branches and other irregularities that plunged the proceedings into chaos got resolved. Do we need better illustrations of two-faced politics in action?
Popular EFF slogans that hide what the party really stands for are masterpieces of its duplicity. Its self-promotion includes endless streams of Facebook, Twitter and website postings to mislead the uninformed. To understand the two-faced politics of the EFF it is necessary to look beyond its social media rhetoric and ad hoc stunts to grab news headlines. It is crucial to question the logic of EFF statements, particularly how its deeds contradict its words, to strip away its radical leftist posturing. The spectacles at this EFF congress, its typical parliamentary antics and historical roots in the ANC shed light on what the adventures of the EFF mean for the real struggle of the working people against capitalism.
Flaunting of money and wealth overshadowed the EFF congress and stand in stark opposition to the so-called “working class image” which it attempts to drape itself in and portray. The exorbitant costs of the congress and business holdings of some of its prominent members raise many questions. What kind of party can splurge more than R32m on the luxurious travel and accommodation of so-called VIP conference guests and then proclaim itself a party for working people? More importantly, who are the shady financiers of the lavish spending that the EFF leaders indulge in so commonly?
Wealth accumulation by the black elite is not foreign to the EFF. On the contrary, the party actively promotes Black Elite Enrichment as repeated in its 2019 election manifesto, among other EFF policy statements. It sloganeers against ‘white monopoly capital’ and calls for the transfer of economic wealth ‘from the few to the many’ that will ‘give black people real ownership’. This rhetoric echoes what we hear from the aspirant black bourgeoisie determined to enrich itself at the expense of the working class and landless peasants. Are black capitalists like Patrice Motsepe, Tokyo Sexwale, Tito Mboweni and Cyril Ramaphosa not operating according to laws of profiteering, exploitation and dispossession intrinsic to capitalism?
Hopes that the EFF faith in wealth accumulation by black elites will be broken by the enlarged ‘Central Command Team’ that emerged out of its 2nd elective congress are pipedreams of ‘left entry-ists’ without consistent programmatic principles. For it is impossible to overlook the fact that infighting that has plagued the EFF leadership since its inception has always been about retaining Malema-evangelists and brutally axing dissidents. The election of Marshall Dlamini, a wealthy business tycoon and EFF MP, to the position of Secretary General, epitomises this EFF routine.
Besides this opportunistic enlargement of the EFF leadership to 40 disciples, the congress also geared the party for its 2021 local government election campaign. Unsurprisingly, the December congress also celebrated the EFF electoral gains in the 2019 national and provincial ballot. Increasing its number of votes from 1,1 million in 2014 (6.35% of all votes cast) to 1,8 million in 2019 (10.79%) enabled the EFF to almost double its seats in the National Assembly to 44 members of parliament. This begs the question: what has the EFF accomplished beyond stunts to disrupt parliamentary proceedings for some self-serving publicity? These stunts coupled with its ad hoc alliances with the Democratic Alliance and ANC are in line with its “readiness and preparedness to govern on behalf of the people.” (EFF 2019 Election Manifesto)
What does it mean to ‘govern on behalf of the people’? If one ignores the patronising arrogance of this EFF ambition, then it amounts to relegating the oppressed and exploited to spectators to the spectacles of the EFF, the self-appointed leaders of voters. It is an insidious ploy to mislead working people away from the necessity of programmatic struggle and principled self-organisation. Furthermore, it betrays the deep ideological subservience of the EFF to bourgeois liberalism (‘liberal representation’) and how its adventures subvert the importance of revolutionary parliamentary strategies to advance the anti-capitalist struggle.