EEF leader Julius Malema.
uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) head of presidency Magasela Mzobe has accused Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema of playing to the “theatre of politics” to garner support ahead of the 2026 local government elections by accusing Jacob Zuma’s party of being funded by white people.
In a media briefing on Monday, Malema claimed that all political parties in South Africa except for the EFF were white-controlled.
“The truth is that Comrade Julius knows that it is not true; as to why he said [that], I would not speculate,” Mzobe said on Tuesday in response to Malema’s assertion.
“If there’s one party that all white business people have come out openly to say it must be stopped — it’s the MK party. Everyone is trying to get more numbers, especially in preparation of the 2026 local government elections.
“If people know the history of president Jacob Zuma even when he was a president of South Africa, he is probably the most hated president of this country’s democracy by white establishment. We hold no grudges against Comrade Julius [but] he knows it’s not true, [what he said].”
After the defection to the MK party by former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, former national chair Dali Mpufu and other high-profile people, Malema declared Zuma’s party as its biggest enemy, alleging that it was trying to destroy the Red Berets from within.
The defections stung even more, given that the MK party, just months old at the time, had knocked the EFF from its perch as South Africa’s third largest party in May 2024 general elections.
Addressing party supporters outside the constitutional court last year, Malema said the party had instructed its lawyers to attach Zuma’s home in Nxamalala village in northern KwaZulu-Natal to recover money owed to the EFF emanating from legal costs awarded against him.
“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 at the time.
“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 want our money. He wants to play dirty, bring it on. Bring us our money tomorrow otherwise we are attaching Nkandla.”
In a press briefing ahead of the EFF’s elective conference in December, Malema reiterated that the party would “not play nice with people” playing rough with it and called on the Red Berets to fight back against online attacks from the MK party.
This week, Mzobe said the MK party holds no grudges against Malema, saying both parties are independent organisations fishing in the same constituency. The ideal situation would be for both parties to work together for a common vision, he added.
“We are not naive to the reality that we are fresh from elections and there’s been a movement of members from the EFF to MK or at least at a leadership level. It might have affected the relationship in all fairness,” he acknowledged.
“With time guided by president Zuma, we believe that those could still be mended for the benefit of constituencies that we represent.”
He confirmed that the EFF had submitted summons through the sheriff of the court and the matter was being handled by the Zuma family.
EFF national spokesperson Sinawo Thambo referred to Zuma’s relationship with diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg as the reason Malela would have said the MK party was being funded by white people, but added that he would not want to infer that was the only reason.
Thambo said the EFF was not friends with the MK party, reiterating the accusation of infiltration.
“We had a meeting before the budget vote on the first of April, so we do speak on matters of political alignment in terms of voting in parliament and that is where it ends. We do not owe the MK party a cordial relationship outside of a voting agreement in parliament and we are politically contesting each other in society,” he added.
Mzobe reiterated Zuma’s remarks at the weekend that the MK party would eventually take over the ANC, his political home for decades until his expulsion last year.
The ANC lost its parliament majority for the first time in 30 years at last year’s elections, losing a large chunk of voters to MK.
Delivering a lecture to mark Freedom Day on Sunday, Zuma told his audience: “We can’t give our heroes to people who failed to rule the ANC. We are still standing where our forefathers were, we just changed the name before they accuse us of taking the ANC.We want to take the ANC when they lose power and tell them to bring our things back.”
On Tuesday, Mzobe said taking back the ANC would be the political project of unifying black people behind the MK party, which draws its name from the ANC’s military wing during the fight against apartheid.
“If the ANC was to go to a conference and they activate the clause of dissolution of the ANC, we would be glad to take over the leadership role of liberating Africans. We accept all members of the ANC who genuinely believe in the struggle for the total liberation of black people,” he said.
He insisted that Zuma was the only one who was still a genuine member of the ANC.
“He believes strongly that the ANC has the historical heritage of black people as an instrument that was used by black people to fight for the liberation and that it must not be abandoned for people to steal its heritage,” Mzobe said.
“He is of the view that currently the ANC is captured by people who are not of the interest of black people and part of defeating from power means reclaiming that historical legacy of black people.
“We have seen that many liberation movements that once they lose power, disintegrate and vanish from history. He is of the view that someone needs to reclaim that history. We regard ourselves as a liberation movement that is on the journey by forefathers of the ANC, not that we are planning to hijack, it’s not in that context.”