The Unemployed People’s Movement Will Not be Joining Malema’s EFF

Saturday, 27 July 2013
Unemployed People’s Movement Press Statement

The Unemployed People’s Movement Will Not be Joining Malema’s EFF

Isolezwe and the Daily News have both reported that the Unemployed People’s Movement will be joining Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EEF). Isolezwe also reported that Abahlali baseMjondolo would be joining but quickly carried a strong denial from S’bu Zikode, who is the chairperson of Abahlali baseMjondolo. The Daily News has also reported that Zikode has said that “It is not true what they are saying and I would caution against any organisation founded on the basis of lies.”

Today the UPM would like to confirm that any claims by the EFF or others that our movement will be joining the EFF are also lies.

The Daily News has reported that an organisation called the South African Federation of the Unemployed Peoples’ Unions is claiming that our movement falls under them and that we will be joining the EEF. We have never heard of the South African Federation of the Unemployed Peoples’ Unions or its secretary Nhlanhla Myeni. They have never even spoken to us or approached us in anyway. Any suggestion that our movement falls under the South African Federation of the Unemployed Peoples’ Unions is a dirty lie that we reject with the contempt that it deserves. This is as far from the truth as the North Pole is from the South Pole.

We have noted that there have been a number of media reports claiming that various organisations are joining the EEF. Some media houses have naively accepted these claims without even checking if these organisations really exist, if they have members or if they have any record of struggle. They have not even used google to see if these organisations have any record of existence or struggle. We would like to caution all media houses to check if organisations that are claimed to be joining the EEF really do exist or, if they have existed in the past, they still exist.

In the same Daily News article where Myeni claims that our movement falls under his organisation, an organisation that we have never heard of and none of our comrades in Durban have ever heard of, he also states his support for the fascist anti-Indian politics that is being encouraged by the notorious Phumlani Mfeka. As a communist organisation we will fight fascism wherever it rears its ugly head and we consider Mfeka to be our enemy and an enemy of the poor and the working class. We will continue to organise all unemployed people irrespective of their race and we will oppose all attempts by rich businessmen to try to use race to divide the poor.

We will never liquidate our struggle into a project that is top down. The EFF have not elected their leaders and they announced their programme before they even converged for their first meeting.

We will never liquidate our struggle into a project that is run by corrupt people who have feasted like hyenas off the state at the expense of the poor. If mines and other business were nationalised under these people they would just plunder the economy for their own enrichment like they plundered the NYDA and Limpopo. Their record is clear.

We will never liquidate our struggle into a project that is run by people who use insults, intimidation and lies to shut down debate instead of engaging openly and honestly.

We will never liquidate our struggle into a project that is run by people who have no history of supporting the struggles of the poor and the working class. In fact when Malema and his cronies were in the Youth League it was supporting the repression of the people’s struggles. Their only concern was plunder. They are only coming to the people’s struggles now that they need support to get back into power.

The EFF are opportunists and we reject them contempt. They are the sort of people that Frantz Fanon warned us against. We will continue to build democratic structures from below in order to take the struggle of our people forward.

Bheki Buthelezi UPM KwaZulu-Natal 060 457 971
Ayanda Kota UPM Eastern Cape 078 625 6462
Motsi Khokohma UPM Free State 073 490 7623