STEVEN FRIEDMAN: To challenge the ominously unaccountable EFF is to be branded a crank or bigot
The adoration of the EFF allows it to avoid questions any party in a democracy, particularly one that could end up in a coalition government, should be expected to answer
We should all want to be the EFF — we would never need to explain ourselves to anyone.
This column, prompted by the EFF’s fourth birthday celebrations, was written with great reluctance. There is no tougher job in this country’s political commentary than analysing the EFF, rather than simply singing its praises.
The EFF does not debate critics — it insults them. But so do others in today’s debate. The bigger turn-off is that asking hard questions about the EFF is a lonely business because it attracts almost universal contempt from those who join the political debate. The media and the EFF have been in love since the party was founded: last week, journalists anointed Julius Malema president-in-waiting and poured scorn on anyone who doubted that the red berets were now the centre of our politics.They have been joined by other middle-class voices. Those on the left label the EFF "the real opposition" and the "voice of the voiceless". Others say admiringly that it has "shaken up politics". This adoration is presented not as opinion but self-evident truth: to challenge it is to be branded a crank, a white bigot, a Gupta lackey — or all three. There are several reasons for this adoration. For journalists, the EFF is an endless source of dramatic stories. Middle-class people on the left want nonAN...
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