On Thursday, Malema told journalists provincial leadership structures would be disbanded if they fail to ensure 90% of regions have launched branches.
JOHANNESBURG Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema unilaterally docked the salaries of two provincial leaders because they failed to deliver a monthly organisational report.
Malema has warned that he will do this to more in the party as no one can tell him how to run his organisation.
Eyewitness News understands that the partys Gauteng chairperson, Itani Mukwevho, and secretary, Moshe Koma, were punished for failing to deliver the provincial organisational report in May.
According to insiders, this was Malemas way of teaching them a lesson after he warned that in his party, unlike the African National Congress (ANC), it was not enough to just apologise.
Tension is rising within the party ahead of elective regional assemblies and selection of party councillors ahead of local government elections.
On Thursday, Malema told journalists that provincial leadership structures would be disbanded if they failed to ensure that 90% of regions had launched branches.
Its not a secret, we are running our party and thats how we are running it, the EFF leader said.
and if you dont like it, as Malema said, you could simply leave the party.
Insiders have said that Malemas hardened commander-in-chief style often threw out all the rules as he dictated the order of the day, with some saying that the EFF at times felt like a spaza shop.
Malema is said to have ordered for Mukwevho and Komas entire monthly wages to be docked during a meeting he had with provincial and regional leaders.
But the EFF leader, who is the chief deployee in Gauteng, which has struggled to launch new branches across most of its regions, was unapologetic for his stance.
You come and join politics, in less than seven years you earn money from politics yet you add no value, Malema said.
Some in the party stand by Malema, arguing that the two leaders who had their salaries docked were incompetent and knew that Malema was in a catch-22 situation as he could not afford to disband the province after Mandisa Mashegos departure or have a poor showing at the local polls as coalitions were likely to be a factor.
Malema has also warned that more salary cuts and suspensions were on the cards should leaders fail to deliver on party expectations.
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