The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has dismissed speculation that it is in talks with former MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, saying its immediate priority is mobilising voters ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
Image: Itumeleng English/ Independent Newspaper.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) secretary-general Marshall Dlamini has dismissed claims that the party is in talks with former MP Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, following speculation that Ndlozi could return as its mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg.
Dlamini was speaking ahead of the party’s planned launch of its mass voter registration campaign, part of a nationwide programme to mobilise eligible voters ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
The launch is scheduled for Saturday, March 12, at the party’s headquarters in Marshalltown, Johannesburg.
With elections approaching, political parties have begun announcing mayoral candidates for key municipalities, particularly in Gauteng, where the City of Johannesburg, City of Ekurhuleni and the City of Tshwane are expected to be highly contested.
Opposition parties, including the Democratic Alliance and ActionSA, have intensified their campaigns.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has been confirmed as the party’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, having previously served in the role from August 2016 to November 2019.
So far, three candidates have been publicly declared in the Johannesburg race: Mashaba; Democratic Alliance federal council chairperson Helen Zille; and Kenny Kunene, who currently serves as MMC for transport in the metro.
The MK Party has indicated it will announce its candidate before April.
Johannesburg continues to face severe service delivery challenges, including water and electricity shortages, potholes, deteriorating infrastructure, uncollected refuse, and non-functioning streetlights and traffic signals.
The African National Congress (ANC) has yet to confirm whether it will retain incumbent mayor Dada Morero or nominate a new candidate.
Speaking with SABC News, Dlamini said the EFF is deliberately taking its time to announce candidates, stressing that the party follows its own processes.
“First, we had to go to a plenary where we sit and have a plan of what becomes the programme of action for the year, and that's exactly what we did, because what you don't want is to be reactive and just follow each and every political party, then you're going to lose focus,” he said.
“You have to work on your own plans that talk to you about how you are structured as an organisation, making sure that all your structures are ready, and we did that at the end of February.
“We went to a planner because, as an organisation, we're a unitary organisation, but we're also an organisation that believes we have to make sure there is consultation within the structure so that we can come up with decisions… So we don't announce candidates from some backroom.”
Dlamini said all decisions are taken through organisational structures following consultations across all levels.
“That’s why we had to go to the plenary, where all the structures from the sub-regions all the way to the national were to sit under one roof and see what becomes the programme of action for the year for the EFF, which we have adopted.
“And one of the first programmes was that we must go and launch a voter registration campaign, and that comes from the research and studies that have been done… We even invited the IEC because we have to follow the research and what the numbers are saying.”
According to him, Statistics South Africa estimates that about 40 million South Africans are eligible to vote, but only 27 million are registered.
“So it means you've got 18 million South Africans eligible to vote but not registered to vote.
“So that is why the first programme is to go and launch a mass voter registration, where we're inviting all South Africans to come to Winnie Madikizela House, the headquarters of the EFF, where we're going to have that rally to launch the voter registration.”
He urged citizens to exercise their constitutional rights.
“You’ve got a right to vote, you've got the right to join your own political party and to defend this democracy. The first line of duty in defence of democracy is to make sure that eligible voters are registered to vote so that, on the day of elections, no one is going to complain.”
On the process of selecting mayoral candidates, Dlamini said it will be determined by the party’s central command team (CCT), its highest decision-making body between conferences.
“No, it’s not yet been established, but we’re going to field mayoral candidates. We’re going to field candidates,” he said.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has dismissed speculation that it is in talks with former MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
Image: Oupa Mokoena / Independent Newspapers
The CCT was expected to meet this week but it’s sitting was postponed. It was postponed following the death of Martha Motlanalo Malema, who was described as a loving figure and the last-born daughter of the late Sarah Malema, who previously raised Malema after his mother's earlier passing.
She will be buried on Sunday in Polokwane, Limpopo.
“We were supposed to sit this Friday, but we had an approval where the CIC (referring to Julius Malema) has lost his mother, and we made a decision that we wanted all of us to focus on being able to sit in that meeting, so we'll sit in that meeting immediately after the launch of the voter registration campaign,” Dlamini said.
He added that guidelines will be developed to determine suitable candidates for each municipality.
“We have to sit and go through each and every one of them and look at what is best suitable… and that has to be adopted and agreed by the CIC, and then become the guidelines which will guide mayoral candidates.”
Dlamini also clarified that the EFF has never previously fielded mayoral candidates since its formation in 2013.
“It has never happened in its history. This is going to be the first time we're fielding mayoral candidates,” he said.
Addressing speculation about Ndlozi’s return, Dlamini said, “No, there's no such thing. There's no discussion like that.”
Ndlozi resigned from the EFF in February 2025 after months of internal tensions, suspensions and allegations of disloyalty.
He later said he had been barred from party activities six weeks before the party’s December 2024 national elective conference, amid claims he was part of an alleged “infiltration strategy” linked to the MK Party.
The fallout centred on his failure to inform Julius Malema about former EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu’s intention to defect to the MK Party.
Ndlozi denied the accusation, saying it was not his role to “gossip” or act as an internal informant.
After leaving the red berets, he joined Power FM as a talk show host but left the station last month.
Last month, Malema publicly signalled that Ndlozi would be welcomed back into the party, months after his dramatic exit amid internal turmoil.
Meanwhile, despite reports suggesting a loss of talent within the party, Dlamini rejected the claim.
“If you look at the EFF now in the National Assembly… everything else, the Bills that are in Parliament now are run by the current members of the EFF.
“We’ve never had an organisation that was obsessed with status… We work as members of the EFF. The EFF has always got quality.”
He said the party remains focused on its own programme.
“That’s why, even when parties announce candidates, we don’t panic because we’re not informed by what is fashionable. We work with the programme of the EFF that we adopt, and we take full responsibility around it,” Dlamini added.
simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za
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