Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema this week declared war on Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party over what he called its dirty tactics to try to “destroy” the Red Berets.
In an address to supporters on the steps of the constitutional court on Tuesday, Malema said the MK party was poaching EFF leaders and urged them to fight back in defence of the party. He declared Zuma’s party the EFF’s “biggest enemy”.
EFF insiders say the MK party’s strategy of swallowing up the smaller parties to the left of the ANC to consolidate itself ahead of the local government elections in 2026 meant there could not be unity between the parties.
Malema had earlier barred MK party and ANC members from participating in the march on the constitutional court, where the EFF’s attempt to have President Cyril Ramaphosa impeached over the Phala Phala scandal was being heard.
Malema said the EFF had instructed its lawyers to attach Zuma’s home in Nxamalala village in northern KwaZulu-Natal to recover money owed to the Red Berets emanating from legal costs awarded against him in favour of its legal team.
“We brought Zuma to the constitutional court and we said pay back the money and he paid back the money and has not forgiven us for that,” Malema said. “In all the cases we won against Jacob Zuma, he never paid the legal fees.”
“Zuma owes us legal fees. We have a court order that he must pay us our money. He has not complied with the court order.
“We have instructed our lawyer to attach Nkandla so that the man pays back the money. We want our money. He wants to play dirty, bring it on. Bring us our money tomorrow otherwise we are attaching Nkandla.”
During a press briefing on Monday ahead of the EFF national people’s assembly in December to elect new leaders, Malema reiterated that the party would “not play nice with people” playing rough with it and called on his members to fight back against online attacks from the MK party.
He said if Zuma was an “honourable man”, he would have called a meeting with EFF leaders to tell them about the intentions of those looking to join the MK party.
Relations between the two parties have deteriorated, particularly following the adoption of the MK party’s constitution that includes a controversial provision calling on smaller black political parties to merge under the MK banner.
This move was positioned as a strategic effort to consolidate political power and present a unified front to challenge the government of national unity in parliament.
But the initiative was met with resistance, because some of these smaller parties viewed the MK party’s approach as a direct threat to their autonomy and identity.
Tensions escalated further when allegations surfaced that the MK party was actively poaching key members from the EFF, undermining the spirit of collaboration it had initially proposed.
Those who have defected to the Zuma-led party include Floyd Shivambu, Mzwanele Manyi, Magasela Mzobe, Dali Mpofu and Busisiwe Mkhwebane, all of whom occupied either parliamentary or leadership positions with the EFF.
One EFF member close to the matter said that the MK party’s “aggressive recruitment strategy” ahead of the 2026 elections, “combined with the broader implications of the MK’s constitution, deepened mistrust and left many questioning the feasibility of unity under such terms”.
The source said despite Malema calling out the MK party for causing this strife, it has continued to poach key EFF members aligned to Shivambu.
“The MK party has strategically sat down to draw key members from the EFF ‘on some kill them while they are still down’ strategy. But the last straw was the [attempt at] poaching of Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, which angered the CIC [commander-in-chief],” the source said.
“This is why he [Malema] pressed him [Ndlozi] to find out where he stands, because we were aware of the secret conversations, but luckily Ndlozi rejected attempts to have him leave the party.”
A highly placed source in the MK said the party’s aspiration to strip the EFF of its autonomy stemmed from a broader strategy to centralise power and solidify the MK party’s dominance.
They said the ultimate goal was to ensure that the MK party emerged as the singular most powerful political entity, effectively positioning itself as the principal opposition force to challenge the government of national unity.
“This ambition was not just about uniting parties. By taking over the EFF and other smaller black-led parties, the MK aimed to dominate the political narrative and control resources.”
It was also seen as an effort to silence opposing views and build a tightly controlled political group under Zuma’s leadership, the source said. The best way was to dismantle the EFF and cast doubt on the party, especially now before the conference.
“If we managed to scatter them, then it would be easy to gain them to the next best thing — which is us,” the source said.
On Tuesday, Malema urged supporters outside the constitutional court to defend the EFF and to disregard any information about members unless it comes from the party’s leadership.
“I hear people talking about Ndlozi. Dr Ndlozi is a member of the EFF, he’s a leader of the EFF and no organisation can claim him except for the EFF,” Malema said.
“You must not listen to gossip from drunkards. Ask us about the EFF leaders and we will tell you Ndlozi has renewed his membership. He is in the membership system of the EFF.
“They think they can divide this organisation. They will never divide this organisation. We are one thing, marching to the National Prosecuting Authority as a collective of leadership that is united more than ever.
“To defend our own movement, let’s go down and work very hard and tell our people the EFF is growing,” Malema said.
“You may not be elected in government, but you exist in every street and every house. There’s no area in South Africa where they go to sleep without speaking about the EFF because you are a force.”
The clash between the EFF and the MK party is likely to have repercussions for the so-called “progressive caucus” in parliament, which includes the two parties, the African Transformation Movement (ATM), the United Africans Transformation and the National Coloured Congress.
ATM leader Vuyo Zungula said the tensions between the two biggest parties in the caucus would put a strain on the relationship, but added that he still believed “they would find each other”.
The current tensions would be a test of leadership, he added.
“There are meetings that we have as a caucus and [this is] where we process issues, whether it’s issues of tension or whatever that may happen,” Zungula said.
“The leaders of all these five parties in the progressive caucus are wise and mature enough to say, ‘Let us sit down and find a way to rectify the problems’.
“The other parties like the United Democratic Movement (UDM) decided they were leaving the caucus. The EFF has not outright stated they are leaving the caucus. The progressive caucus has not decided to say we are disbanding or doing anything.”
Zungula said there would be a meeting to discuss the tensions between the various parties “when the time is right”.
“If the DA [Democratic Alliance] and the ANC can work together, being so ideologically and policy opposed, what would stop like-minded organisations from finding a way to work together?” he asked.
“We don’t believe these parties would leave the unity of the progressives after knowing and experiencing the 30 years of democratic rule, which has shown that the more we are divided, the more we are incapable of resolving the problems that are faced by our people.”
He added that parties that viewed themselves as a progressive party would not want to leave the caucus because it gives them the capacity to deal with the poor material conditions of many South Africans.
On the suggestion by Zuma that smaller parties should collapse themselves into the MK party to form a single entity, Zungula said this might be necessary.
But he added that “there are many modalities we can find that do not require any collapsing or the dissolution of any party”.
“Our view on the matter is that we can achieve our goals, work [together] and find a way to succeed while all these parties retain their identities.”
The MK party has thus far refrained from responding to Malema.
Speaking on the sidelines of a media briefing on Wednesday, EFF defector Dali Mpofu, who is now a member of the MK high command, said they and the EFF were not enemies, or at least the MK party did not view anyone as its enemy.
He said the MK party would not be dragged into returning public insults that have been “hurled” at the party and some of its leaders.
“There are no public spats. Spats means that there are two participants. We have not participated in any such spats,” he said.
Mpofu declined to comment when asked whether the EFF’s legal team had served notice on Zuma with regard to the payment of the legal fees — or whether an attempt had been made to attach his Nkandla home.
He referred the Mail & Guardian to the Jacob Zuma Foundation, saying that the MK party did not deal with “such matters”.
Mpofu said that if the EFF decided to leave the progressive caucus and refuse to work with MK party in parliament, it would not be the first party to have done so.
“The PAC [Pan Africanist Congress] and UDM were there when we announced the progressive caucus on the first day, and they went to the GNU, but the progressive caucus continued. One person leaving the progressive caucus should not necessarily threaten the whole caucus,” he said.
Mpofu said while it might be difficult to fix the relationship between the Red Berets and the MK party, the progressive caucus was a voluntary body.
“Those who want to stay, they must stay. Those who want to walk, they must walk.
“This is a very serious project that addresses historical issues of the division of our people over centuries. It is going to happen over a long time,” he said.
“It is a programme that the MK party is going to see through. Whether it’s 10 years, 20 years or 100 years, we don’t care, but eventually we are going to unite our people. We will unite them kicking and screaming sometimes.”
The fallout between the MK party and the EFF is likely also to affect the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, where the support of the EFF’s two members of the provincial legislature brings the MK party within one vote of unseating the unity government of Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Premier Thami Ntuli.
The MK party took more than 45% of the vote in the province in the 29 May elections, but was outmanoeuvred by a coalition between the ANC, the DA and the IFP, which formed a government of provincial unity with the National Freedom Party.