Group in EFF meet to unseat Malema

A GROUP of dissidents in the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) will meet this weekend to hatch a plan to unseat leader Julius Malema and his lieutenants at the party's first conference in December.

Fresh cracks in the young party were laid bare in Johannesburg after Malema and his allies removed seven leaders from their positions at a meeting in Braamfontein on Tuesday.

Jostling for positions in the EFF, which notched 6% of the vote in the May election, has taken off, with concerns that the organisation might go the route of COPE should it fail to handle internal contestation for power.

Malema's move to restructure the provincial structures was seen as a purge of those who do not agree with him.

There is unhappiness that Malema and his parliamentarians had accepted perks such as houses and medical aid, among others, despite the leader condemning them in the run-up to the election.

That Malema's son attends a private school was seen to be in contradiction with the EFF's push for public servants to use public services.

"We will meet this weekend to talk about this development," a Gauteng command team leader said. "Those who spoke out were targeted in this so-called restructuring."

He said Malema was displacing those who played a key role in mobilising support for the party from last year.

Another EFF member said: "When the party was formed, Julius told us that no one can come just occupy a leadership position. We must work hard at grassroots level. But now we are being sidelined."

EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said restructuring was to trim down committees and to ensure a gender balance. - Hlengiwe Nhlabathi and George Matlala