Newly appointed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party parliament chief whip Colleen Makhubele
Newly appointed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party parliament chief whip Colleen Makhubele says she will be reaching out to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leadership on how the two organisations can repair their collapsed working relationship.
The relationship between the two parties soured last year over the defection to the MK party of former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu, former national chair Dali Mpufu and Mzwanele Manyi.
In November, the EFF said it was re-evaluating its position in the so-called progressive caucus — an alliance of opposition parties including MK formed to challenge President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of national unity.
In an interview this week Makhubele, who recently replaced Manyi as the MK party chief whip in parliament, said the relationship with the EFF is “important for the progressive caucus”.
“We meet from time to time and I think we need to strengthen that relationship because we agree in many of our policy directions,” she added.
“There are many important areas that we will be collaborating on and I trust that as a new whip I will be reaching out to the EFF to start a dialogue on how we can effectively work together.”
After the departures to the MK party, EFF leader Julius Malema declared Jacob Zuma’s party as its biggest enemy, alleging that it was trying to destroy the Red Berets from within.
The defections stung even more, coming after 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, joining parliament as the official opposition after the Democratic Alliance joined the coalition government.
Several MK party leaders, including head of presidency Magasela Mzobe, have kept the door open to working with Malema’s party but the EFF has constantly said it is not friends with the former, reiterating its accusation of infiltration.
The soured relationship has negatively affected the opposition parties in parliament.
Makhubele is the MK party’s third chief whip after Sihle Ngubane and Manyi. She was also appointed as the chief of communication in parliament three months ago..
In February sources told the M&G that Manyi was out of his depth as chief whip, saying he had only been placed in the position because of his proximity to Zuma and Shivambu. One said that although Malema was in support of the “progressive caucus”, he refused to meet Manyi, and that “the EFF just switched off” when Manyi spoke at caucus meetings.
Given the revolving wheel that the MK party has shown itself to be, in terms of keeping its officials in their roles, questions have been raised on how long Makhubele will last in her new position.
Makhubele said this was not a worry for her, insisting that for a new party like MK, changes were par for the course and people had to adapt.
“At whatever point the leadership feels they need a new skill to stabilise the caucus, to take the caucus in a new direction, they will make those decisions,” she said.
Makhubele said it was also unfair that the MK party is compared to the EFF because both parties serve different segments of the community.
The EFF, she argued, was mainly focused on people who want to be radical, rowdy, “maybe jump up and down the chairs to make a point and be disruptive to get attention”.
“We have traditional leaders, elderly people, we have church leaders, traditional healers, business sectors who are part of what we do. It is important that we reflect the values that they want us to carry and conduct ourselves accordingly,” she said.
“I wouldn’t want a traditional leader to see me being taken out by a sergeant in arms just because I want to make a point. A point must be made when we debate with sharp, eloquent voices and policies that we put on the table when we fight.
“We have been doing that fairly well. Yes, there are areas of improvement, yes EFF has 10 years of advantage ahead of us and I think for a new party I think we are asserting ourselves well.”
Makhubele said the MK party would hold a strategic session on Monday to discuss how to further strengthen the “progressive caucus”.
She insisted the MK party remained united despite clear divisions between the December 16 faction consisting of members who joined the party at its inauguration 2023 and the “abomafikizolo” faction referring to those who defected from the EFF and their allies.
“We are united and this has been addressed, it hasn’t surfaced and that’s why I am here as a chief whip as what some would want to call me a ‘mafikizolo’. If that wasn’t addressed, I don’t think I would have even been appointed,” Makubele said