The resignation of Floyd Shivambu from the EFF in order to join the MK Party is no train smash at all.
This is a classic case of much ado about nothing.
Heavens won’t fall as a result of his resignation and what I have obserrved is that he is joining a party which holds similar if not same political sentiments like the EFF.
The EFF and the MK Party are similar in that they both thrive on the propaganda tactic known as “Whataboutism.”
This lame tactic entails deflecting attention from one’s shortcomings and glaring blunders by pointing fingers at other people who might have also committed same blunders or have similar shortcomings and declare that it is unfair for anyone to point fingers at you because so and so has also committed similar blunders and has similar shortcomings, yet nothing is said or done about the shortcomings and blunders of so and so.
Let me give a practical example here: a man is arrested at his house for theft, then as police throw him into the van, he points out at the house next door, shouting that the man of the house next door is also a thief, and it is unfair that only he is being arrested while the man of the house next door is not.
When the so-called Phala Phala scandal broke, Jacob Zuma’s supporters were quick to shout that the authorities took Zuma to task regarding Nkandla but are doing nothing in the case of Phala Phala.
When the VBS scandal involving Julius Malema and Shivambu broke, their supporters also made reference to Phala Phala.
When it emerged that controversial Chadima Adetshina won’t be taking part in the Miss South Africa pageant by virtue of not being a South African, EFF and MK supporters were quick to say why are white girls also not disqualified from the Miss SA pageant because according to them whites are also foreigners in this country.
So, Floyd Shivambu’s resignation is personal and has nothing to do with ideology or policy differences whatsoever.
And if rumours are true that one of his tasks in the MK Party would be to spearhead policy formulations, then one starts wondering as to whether none among the 40% of people who voted for MK in KZN and the 14% of people who voted for the party nationally possess the skills to formulate policy frameworks for the party.
If this rumour is true, then this is an indication of lack of depth in the MK Party.
Be that as it may, Shivambu won’t have it easy in the MK Party because obviously there are individuals like Duduzile Zuma, John Hlophe, Andile Mgcitama and party-hopper Jimmy Manyi who are eying the position of MK Party leader once Zuma departs from this world eternally.