The political intrigue around the future of Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi in the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deepened on Thursday when he suddenly removed the Member of Parliament (MP) label from his X (Twitter) bio.
This has raised speculation that the former EFF national spokesperson and Central Command Team (CCT) member may be planning a future outside the Red Berets after 11 years as a member.
Ndlozi, whose verified X account has 1.8 million followers, did not discuss his decision to remove the MP tag with them on social media. His last activity on X was retweeting a post by the pressure group Women for Change about Ntobeko Mandosi Cele (25).
Cele was brutally stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend, Sbusiso Lawrence Ntaka in the Malangeni area of Umzinto, KwaZulu-Natal, on 17 December 2024.
His move comes after his public fallout with re-elected EFF president Julius Malema over claims that Ndlozi was part of a faction aligned with the party’s former Deputy President, Floyd Shivambu, that secretly planned to topple him at the EFF’s third National People’s Assembly (NPA). This elective conference ended on December 15.
Shivambu later led an exodus of former senior EFF leaders to former President Jacob Zuma’s Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, where he was later appointed secretary general. This included former EFF National Chairperson Dali Mpofu.
Tensions between Malema and Ndlozi took a new twist in August when Ndlozi’s partner, actress Mmabatho Montsho, publicly supported Shivambu’s departure from the EFF, which Malema described as a betrayal.
The unexplained removal came a few days after Malema took a swipe at Ndlozi at a media briefing on the NPA sidelines, which the former EFF spokesperson did not attend. Ndlozi was further isolated when EFF delegates excluded him from the newly elected national leadership.
He later took to social media to congratulate the newly elected CCT.
In the run-up to the conference, the media reported that Ndlozi had been banned from the gathering amid rumours he planned to stand for the EFF deputy president’s position against Malema’s wishes.
The EFF leader got hot under the collar when asked why Ndlozi was conspicuous by his absence at the conference, telling the media to stop asking him and EFF General Secretary Marshall Dlamini about Ndlozi.
“We are not going to answer the question about Mbuyiseno Ndlozi. You have got his number, and some of you talk to him. Call him. We are not responsible for Mbuyiseni Ndlozi. Ninety percent of the people who were expected to be here are here. That’s what matters. Whoever is not here was not supposed to be here from the beginning. He is not here, and it’s not our interest to entertain such nonsense,” an angry-looking Malema said.
“We are dealing with political issues here, not egoism. Not people who think they are bigger than this organisation. It will show them once again that it is bigger than all of them. So, as a matter of principle SG and policy position, we are no longer going to answer any nonsense about Mbuyiseni Ndlozi. Never! This matter is closed. You can talk about it among yourselves, but don’t bring it to us. We are refusing.”
When the NPA started, Sinawo Thambo, the spokesperson of the EFF, told a journalist that they didn’t want Ndlozi to be made the centre of focus and make the gathering about him.
Both Ndlozi and the national spokesperson of the EFF, Leigh-Ann Mathys, did not comment when asked to clarify whether Ndlozi has vacated his parliamentary seat or not.
