'Shivambu needed to get out of Julius Malema's shadow'
The news broke on Thursday that deputy president Floyd Shivambu is leaving the EFF to join the MK Party. EWN associate political editor Tshidi Madia shares her views on The Money Show.
EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu. Picture: @EFFSouthAfrica/X.
Theories abounded when the news broke that deputy president Floyd Shivambu is leaving the Economic Freedom Fighters to join the MK Party.
The EFF confirmed the announcement at an emergency media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Shivambu said his party membership had lapsed, and would not be renewed.
He also resigned as a member of Parliament.
RELATED: EFF's second-in-command Floyd Shivambu calls it quits
Party leader Juliius Malema likened Shivambu's resignation from the EFF, of which he is co-founder, to 'resigning from himself'.
It was announced at the media briefing that EFF MP Mzwanele Manyi was also quitting for the MK Party.
RELATED: MK Party better equipped to recapture SA from 'imperialists' - Manyi
In a post on Facebook, the MK Party-Gauteng welcomed Shivambu into hteir midst.
Stephen Grootes gets the view of Tshidi Madia, associate political editor at Eyewitness News.
While Madia acknowledges that Shivambu's move is 'hard to read', she looks at two possible motivations.
The one is a need to get out of Malema's shadow, and the other the possible opportunities presented by the MK Party.
"I don't think it's a deployment (by the EFF) as many people have been calling it, I think he did leave."
"I also think the opportunity's not lost on Shivambu of what is possible by going to join the MK party - he's been deputy president from the beginning, and with the EFF going into a conference in a few months' time, where does he go?"
Tshidi Madia, Associate Political Editor - Eyewitness News
Madia also elaborates on the dynamic between Shivambu and the EFF leader, highlighting his 'ongoing humiliation' under Malema.
"He's really withstood so much humiliation from Julius Malema, and at some point you must make a decision about whether or not it's enough to stay there to be the butt of every joke, or do you decide to go and make something else of yourself."
"He's also blamed, in part, for what happened in KZN and for what happenedwith the GNU talks. I think Shivambu saw an opportunity in the MK - it has more structures, it's still sitting with interim leadership and it's constantly rotating leaders."
RELATED: MK Party lets go of more than 20 of its MPs - report
"I think that's a gap wide open for Shivambu to prove himself... to go actually into the body of the MK that just lost a secretary general. But I don't see the two going against each other, at least not yet."
Tshidi Madia, Associate Political Editor - Eyewitness News
Scroll up to listen to Madia's analysis