The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) concluded its second national elective conference in mid-December 2019. While liberally employing socialist rhetoric, the leadership actively pursues policies that are a mixture of Freedom Charter inspired political backwardness, Black Economic Empowerment  principles as enshrined in the current SA constitution and a reactionary Africanism. Irrespective of whether these political ideologies have historically been discredited many times over, we find adherents of it – like the EFF leadership – clinging to these historically defunct ideas. The EFF is a fully fledged bourgeois political party; this, notwithstanding its radical sounding rhetoric and bastardisation of scientific socialism. The EFF is very much interested in advancing and defending the essence of the SA constitution – a tool of the bourgeoisie – to oppress and exploit the working class and peasantry. The organisation’s primary aim is to grow its parliamentary, provincial legislative and municipal representation. Once, as it argues, they are ensconced in government they will implement their seven pillars that are presented as a condensed political programme used for making political propaganda.

 It is an organisation with serious contradictory political perspectives and positions. On the one hand it declares itself as anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist, but then it hob-nobs with individuals like Robin Renwick and other arch-imperialists. It declares itself pro–working class but then it becomes embroiled in the scandalous VBS saga.  As a splinter group from the ANC, it ostensibly opposes this organisation, but it still wholeheartedly embraces the politically anachronistic Freedom Charter. On the one hand it talks of ‘unity in struggle’ with left leaning organisations but want to do this on its terms only. All these contradictions between theory and practice are furthermore enveloped in a rabid racism that can only take the liberation struggle in SA backwards.

 EFF’s ‘Left Politics’: An Absurdity

We should then ask ourselves, what – in broad terms – informs the political attitude of the EFF on the question of “unity” with left formations and trade unions? It says in its founding statement  (points 25 and 26) that the EFF is a movement “that brings together revolutionary and militant activists, workers’ movements, NGOs, CBOs and lobby groups under the umbrella of pursuing the struggle for economic emancipation”. It adds that “it will be the vanguard of community and workers’ struggles and will always be on the side of the people”. These pronouncements guide the political praxis of the EFF.

Nowhere in its official documents is reference ever made of struggling for or building  ‘unity’ as a means to achieving political aims. The EFF’s conception of “unity” is spurious , short term , ad hoc associations led by itself – for political reforms. The word ‘unity’ gets substituted by empty phrases like ‘bring together’ and ‘be the vanguard’. A key element  of workers’ and communities’ struggles is that a variety of forces, sometimes guided by quite divergent  political motivations, usually emerge. The scope of this range of forces – from left to right wing – usually depends on the intensity or depth of the crisis at hand,  and what the state’s or bosses’ responses are vis a vis the demands that emerge from these struggles. Like its mother body – the ANC – the EFF claims that it and it alone speaks or can speak for or on behalf of the millions of workers and peasants in SA.

The EFF’s political narrowness is further illustrated by its repeated insistence in the founding statement that there is only one liberation movement in SA – the Congress movement. Hence the reference to it being the ‘vanguard’ of worker and community struggles. The argument is that the EFF has now become the ‘vanguard’ whereas in the past the ANC was considered the “leader of society”.  History has dumped the Freedom Charter and its reactive politics in the proverbial dustbin; as loyal adherents to the Freedom Charter, the EFF therefore – by association – belongs in this dustbin itself!  This is tantamount to not only betraying workers ‘ and community struggles upfront, but continuously propagating a political narrative that the oppressed and exploited should reject unreservedly.

Secondly, the unity with left forces and trade unions the EFF is trumpeting is one premised on extending or increasing the electoral support and representation of the EFF. This has nothing to do with building unity for the purpose of advancing workers’,  peasants’ and community struggles. The elected bodies of the South Africa state are governed by rules and laws that are not in the interests of these classes and forces. Dishing out one or two seats to some left grouping as a reward for supporting the EFF electorally, simply means defending the present state of affairs instead of turning working people’s political attention away from bourgeois political bodies. The current situation demands the development of independent political formations, like united fronts that can take the struggles for socialist democracy forward.

Thirdly, if the EFF is genuinely interested in ‘left unity’ it has been conspicuously absent from left formations such as  the Democratic Left Front ( DLF), the Radical Left Network (RLN) and other initiatives like the Numsa inspired United Front. A simple explanation for this is that the EFF wants to dictate its policies and perspectives to others. Any engagement with other organisations on an equal political footing is foreign to it. In this regard it is dutifully following in the traditions of the Congress movement which historically stood against unity of the oppressed and exploited.  Documentary evidence of this abounds.

Fourthly, the EFF quite openly states that the demands of the Freedom Charter are “above forms of organisation that the working class … may fashion in the course of struggles; … alliances are relevant to the extent that they maximise our march towards realising the vision outlined in the Freedom Charter”. In short, this means that workers’ struggles will per force have to submit to and subordinate themselves to what the EFF shall dictate. So if the EFF tells workers to get into bed with the capitalist bosses, then workers will be expected to “toe the line”.

The Road Ahead For The Left

The attitude of NUMSA, SAFTU, AMCU, APDUSA, WASP, and other organisations to these notions of a ‘new left alignment’ with the EFF in charge should therefore be of interest to all concerned. APDUSA for its part unequivocally states that it is guided by a set of transitional political demands that puts the short and long term interests of the working class and peasants first. Its involvement in left unity projects is guided by building principled unity via forums and united fronts that will take workers’ and communities’ struggles forward. This involvement is aimed at achieving the goal of convening a Constituent Assembly tasked with addressing these specific class interests. All left forces in SA can learn from progressive left regroupment elsewhere in the world. ‘Left unity’ as advanced by the EFF leaders can therefore only amount to making a mockery of the idea. Mainstream media – who the EFF leadership supposedly detest – will no doubt have a field day propagating the idea on behalf of the EFF.