Floyd Shivambu at a media briefing on Thursday, 22 August 2024. [Picture: @theafricanptv/X]
Just days after Julius Malema’s tirade against defectors, Floyd Shivambu has hit back. Now uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s (MKP) national organiser, Shivambu’s attacks were directed at his former leader, “white capitalism” and “right-wing” media.
The ex-deputy president and co-founder of the red berets spoke at a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday. He appeared to take a swipe at Malema when he insisted he had never betrayed the “revolution”.
“Some people were saying ‘you are betraying me’. Where does that enter? You don’t even once suggest that I’m betraying the revolution. I will never betray the revolution. We are not in the business of trying to please each other’s egos.
On Monday, a visibly agitated Malema told supporters in Soweto there were those among the ranks who were plotting to leave if they did not get plum positions at the party’s upcoming conference.
“They are choosing what looks like greener pastures. Many of them are opportunists because they want to see whether they will emerge in the upcoming third people’s assembly before they decide whether they will remain in the EFF or not,” he beamed.
SMread: Aggrieved workers block JHB highway
Floyd furious about being misled
Calling on so-called progressive forces to unite, Shivambu said MKP stood to reclaim the liberation movement which had been hijacked. He also defended MKP’s association with controversial figures who were involved in state capture.
“There is absolutely no doubt that the liberation movement is no longer existing in the form that it’s supposed to be. It has been captured totally. It is directed from elsewhere. This is a platform,” he said.
In his view, bringing on board people like Brian Molefe – over whose head hangs a cloud of corruption allegations – was about bringing the “best amongst the best” to govern.
He accused the media for misleading the public that there ever was a state capture crisis permeating through state entities.
“The white capitalist establishment was no longer in control and then they said there’s a crisis. If there was truly a crisis, why is that crisis not there now? Can they show us the crisis which they said enlisted before?”
