Hello! I’m a new communist from South Africa, and so I would like to ask this community’s thoughts on the Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF). After doing some (admittedly inadequate) investigation on them, they look… not good.

However, coming from a white, upper-middle class background, I’ve been lead to believe that the EFF are crazy extremists intent on white genocide, so my negative view of them might be due to those biases. After all. I now know that slander against communists is often completely made up or exaggerated.

On the other hand, genocidal fascists have called themselves socialist/communist in the past (e.g. Nazis, Khmer Rouge), so the EFF doesn’t get a free pass just because they use revolutionary lingo.

My sources for this post are mostly Wikipedia (which I know isn’t a great source), the EFF’s website, and googling specific questions I came up with. So anyone with better info please correct me where I’m wrong.

In favor of the EFF:

• They seem to have a good take on most issues, e.g. China, Russian war, Palestine, redistributing land etc.

Against the EFF:

• The land redistribution they propose would be based on race, rather than, say, amount of land owned. I can’t see a way https://www.npr.org/2010/03/10/124458077/south-african-officials-luxe-lifestyle-raises-doubts for examples. Furthermore, he seems to be the director of multiple companies. I’m aware that the media often make up figures about socialist leaders having absurd sums of money (e.g. saying Xi has billions of dollars in personal wealth), but these articles are from before he formed a socialist party, and was still part of the ruling ANC.where it’s more justified for a small time white farmer to lose their land rather than a farm corporation owned by a black person.

• Julius Malema, the party’s president, seems to use his positions for extensive personal gain. See https://www.news24.com/News24/Malema-misses-R3m-20100223 https://www.npr.org/2010/03/10/124458077/south-african-officials-luxe-lifestyle-raises-doubts for examples. Furthermore, he seems to be the director of multiple companies. I’m aware that the media often make up figures about socialist leaders having absurd sums of money (e.g. saying Xi has billions of dollars in personal wealth), but these articles are from before he formed a socialist party, and was still part of the ruling ANC.

• The EFF is racist (mostly against white people). They often sing the song ‘Kill the Boer’. ‘Boer’ here directly translates to farmer, but is generally understood in South Africa to refer to white Afrikaans people. Now, socialist slogans often exaggerate or are said as a joke, but I don’t think I buy that that’s the case here. Malema has, for example, also said “I’m saying to you, we’ve not called for the killing of white people, at least for now. I can’t guarantee the future.” Malema has also made anti-Indian remarks. Also, I’ve been lead to believe that the EFF only accepts black members, but looking at their membership sign-up page, that might not be the case. On the other hand, looking at their membership page, I can see where people got that impression. EDIT TO ADD: Surely, trying to unify the workers of all races is a more correct position than sowing this kind of ethnic division (which is, after all, a common fascist tactic)?

• Lastly, they just don’t seem very effective. Like, it all seems very performative. Scrolling through their website, I see a lot of statements about slogans, theatrics in parliament and rallies, but not much about actual stuff they’ve done. For example, googling ‘eff soup kitchen’ only brings up one relevant result, from 2018, about one soup kitchen they’ve helped. Looking up ‘eff homeless shelters’ brings up no relevant articles. Their website barely has any reference to any positive things they’ve done in regions where they’ve gained power. Is that normal for a socialist party that they don’t talk about doing that kind of stuff? Or is it normal for parties to not take part in that kind of stuff (maybe just directing members to other dedicated org)? Or is the EFF just useless?

Once again, I’m aware of my own biases, so I’d like someone more knowledgeable than me to chime in.

So, is the EFF worth supporting? If not, can someone recommend a better org in SA to support?