EFF’s Marshall Dlamini Calls for Left-Wing Unity, Says South Africa Is “Basically Lost”
- Economic Freedom Fighters Secretary-General Marshall Dlamini addressed a Council of the Left press briefing on 12 November
- Dlamini said South Africa had no time for 'petty politics' as unemployment, poverty and disease continued to worsen for ordinary citizens
- The Council of the Left, which includes various political parties, also discussed a strategy around municipal councils and coalition politics
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Byron Pillay, a Briefly News journalist, has spent a decade reporting on South Africa's political landscape, crime, and social issues. He worked as a newspaper journalist for 10 years before transitioning to online journalism.
GAUTENG — Economic Freedom Fighters Secretary-General Marshall Dlamini has warned that South Africa is "basically lost" to scandal and misgovernance, using a formal press briefing of the Council of the Left at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg on 12 November to call on all progressive and left-leaning parties to unite around a shared national agenda.
Dlamini spoke before a panel of representatives from several organisations, including the South African Communist Party (SACP), the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, the Afrika Mayibuye Movement, and the African Congress for Transformation (ACT), among other smaller formations.
Dlamini also called on the African National Congress to join the council.
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Dlamini's warning on the state of the country
Addressing reporters, Dlamini painted a bleak picture of conditions on the ground, citing high unemployment, widespread poverty, disease, and scenes of people visiting dump sites in search of food. He stressed that the moment demanded collective action rather than internal political squabbling.
"We have no time for petty politics or personalities," Dlamini said. "We are here to see where we can come together."
He also pointed to the polling figures, referencing the ANC's standing at approximately 26%, as evidence that the current political order was failing South Africans. In his view, those conditions made it urgent for left parties to coordinate rather than compete.
Dlamini was clear that the outreach to the ANC was not an endorsement of the party's internal direction.
"We are not going to get interested in their internal problems. We are not here to do any diagnosis of any party except the country itself," he said.
Council of the Left's municipal strategy
Beyond the call for broader unity, Dlamini outlined a position on local government coalitions, stating that the Council of the Left was focused on ensuring that all councils under their influence remained "closed councils" that prioritised the needs of ordinary people.
He said discussions on majority and minority arrangements were not yet on the table, with principle driving the approach rather than numbers.
He credited the SACP with steering the Council of the Left's work, noting that the formation had begun coordinating earlier in the year before the 12 November briefing.
EFF and MK Party take first steps towards a coalition
Briefly News reported on the EFF and MK Party’s first coalition discussions following the 2026 Local Government Elections, including the service-delivery priorities both parties say could guide cooperation.
The EFF described the meeting as progressive and warned that a failure to unite could leave South Africa facing what it called “Apartheid 2.0”.
Find out what the parties’ proposed priorities could mean for municipalities where no party won an outright majority.
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Source: Briefly News
