The Economic Freedom Fighters: South Africa’s Turn Towards Populism?

Abstract

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party has made an impact on South

Movement for Democratic Change and the Rise of Nelson Chamisa

“…In Zambia, Frederick Chiluba evoked anti-establishment populist sentiments, and so did Michael Sata (Fraser, 2017). In South Africa, disgruntled by internal party politics, Julius Malema established the populist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party (Mbete, 2015; Nyenhuis, 2020). The literature on party politics indeed underscores how party leaders emerge under the crest of populist mobilizations.…”

State violence, party formation, and electoral accountability: The political legacy of the Marikana massacre

“…Parties often form when either (violent or non-violent) conflict or emergent political polarization creates an issue or identity vacuum (Lipset and Rokkan, 1967;Kitschelt, 1992;LeBas, 2006). In South Africa, the historical record suggests that the Marikana massacre did exactly this, creating a geographically localized issue cleavage over which a non-trivial number of voters had intense preferences (Holmes, 2012;Mbete, 2015Mbete, , 2016. Two young politicians who had recently been frozen out of the ANC apparatus and were seeking opportunities to re-enter the fray -Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu -perceived the events in Marikana as a political opportunity for organization and mobilization against the incumbent (Botiveau, 2014).…”

South Africa’s social contract: the Economic Freedom Fighters and the rise of a new constituent power?

“…Indeed, despite the EFF having been criticised for lacking political substance and exploiting Marikana and the #feesmustfall movement to their own advantage (Mbete 2015;Nieftagodien 2015), the party has arisen as a response to the particular political crises of South Africa. While this has been taken as a weakness of the party, it in fact can be understood quite differently as the party's very essence.…”