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IFP rejects EFF’s claims of assassination plot against secretary-general as ‘fabricated’
EFF MP Godrich Gardee accompanies fellow MP Marshall Dlamini outside the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.
- The EFF claims there is a plot by the IFP to assassinate its secretary-general, Marshall Dlamini.
- But the IFP has rejected the allegations as “unsubstantiated and fabricated”.
- The EFF and IFP have severed ties amid growing hostility.
The EFF says the life of its secretary-general, Marshall Dlamini, is under threat after police uncovered an alleged plot by the IFP to assassinate him.
The IFP, however, has described the EFF’s allegations as “sensationalist, unsubstantiated and fabricated”.
The EFF released a statement on Tuesday, saying that the police notified the party about the alleged plot by an “IFP senior leader”.
On Sunday, EFF leader Julius Malema announced that the party would cut ties with the IFP due to its “arrogant and entitled posture”. At a press briefing, he said that the EFF would support all motions of no confidence in all IFP mayors in municipalities where the party previously voted with them.
He said the party would respect the IFP’s decision not to support the establishment of EFF governments in the various KwaZulu-Natal municipalities, “hence our logical and rational decision to vote out IFP governments wherever we previously voted with them”.
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On Monday, the EFF stated that “reliable intelligence reports illustrate that senior leaders of the IFP believe that our secretary-general is solely responsible for the collective decision we took to initiate motions of no confidence”.
The party added that it was opposed to violence and that it had taken the report seriously due to past political assassinations in KwaZulu-Natal.
In a statement by IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa on Tuesday afternoon, the party described the EFF’s claims as “vile misinformation”.
Hlengwa said the allegations were made without evidence.
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The IFP is demanding a police investigation.
He called on Police Minister Bheki Cele and the State Security Agency to clarify the allegations.
Hlengwa said:
Now that these political opportunists realise that the IFP is the biggest challenger in KZN for 2024, they have returned to their own vomit. Suddenly the IFP, with whom they happily worked until we refused to hand over governance of uMhlathuze – is an ‘agent of apartheid’ that ‘only thrives through violence.’
He noted that there was unhappiness within the EFF over the party’s voting with the ANC.
“And the EFF ground forces are none too happy with that instruction. Many of the EFF’s representatives joined the party on an anti-ANC ticket, but are now being forced to toe the line and work with the ANC.”