Shivambu: EFF and MK Party represent a shrinking minority, ‘We can’t talk about them’

Mayibuye Africa Movement President Floyd Shivambu has drawn a firm line in the sand, declaring that his party will not engage in political sparring with either the EFF or the MK Party, dismissing them as representing “a far much more smaller number” of registered voters in South Africa.

“We are not going to give our attention, none whatsoever, to the EFF or to the MK and everything else,” Shivambu said over the weekend.

“We have got an organisation now, Africa My Way Movement, and that is what we are going to talk about.”

The fiery remarks come amid long-standing tensions between Shivambu and his former political allies in both camps.

Once a senior member of the EFF, Shivambu has since broken ranks and founded his own political home under the Mayibuye Africa Movement, now rebranded with the same logo.

He was expelled from the MK Party in 2023 following an unauthorised trip to Malawi to attend a church service led by fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri — a move that created sharp internal divisions.

Now seeking to position his movement as a serious alternative to what he calls the “systematic and systemic weaknesses” of existing political parties, Shivambu is taking a strategic approach to differentiate his platform.

“We are not going to muzzle our politics on talking about uMkhonto weSizwe or the EFF. We are going to talk about the interests and aspirations of the people of South Africa,” he said, adding that a broader political and economic analysis is provided in the Africa Mayibuye Restoration Manifesto.

Notably, questions have been raised about the striking similarities between the logos of Mayibuye and the EFF — both featuring a clenched fist over the African continent.

Responding to this, Shivambu was curt: “It doesn’t look exactly like the EFF, it doesn’t even look similar. You must go and look at the EFF and look at this one, you will see that they are different.”

“I conceptualised the EFF logo then as to what it means. I know there’s a difference between the logo of the EFF and this one (Mayibuye).

While the EFF and MK Party continue to dominate headlines through their populist rhetoric and high-profile defections, Shivambu insisted that Mayibuye will not be lured into “personality politics.”

Instead, he’s pitching his movement as the beginning of a values-based revolution aimed at reclaiming the soul of post-apartheid South Africa.

kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za

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