72 000 Votes or Empty Boasting? Shivambu Slams Afrika Mayibuye’s Electoral Claim — Credibility War

In a bold move in South African politics, Floyd Shivambu publicly brushed off Afrika Mayibuye’s claim of 72,000 registered supporters on Wednesday, calling it a “theatrical distraction” from a party that is still finding its footing.

Reports indicate that Afrika Mayibuye, a new movement spearheaded by ex-EFF members, announced the achievement at a briefing in Johannesburg, using the number to highlight the growing organic grassroots momentum in townships and cities around the country. Some think the tally doesn’t represent much more than people signing up to vote online; it doesn’t reflect their actual commitment to the election because they can still vote somewhere else.

Reporters were treated to an example of immature political manoeuvring by the MK Party’s deputy president, who told them that respectable organisations gain members not through one-off publicity stunts but through long-term community organising. There was no official statement from the Electoral Commission of South Africa that confirmed the figure prior to its publication.

There is a lot of history associated with splinter formations that originated from the EFF, which was the most contentious founding movement in South Africa. The failure of previous breakaways, including those affiliated with PRAAG, to translate their social media enthusiasm into physical presence at polling stations led to their collapse within two election cycles. This pattern has been documented time and time again since 2016 by analysts at the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa.

After Wednesday’s meeting, all anyone could think about was one image: an Afrika Mayibuye representative waving a printed spreadsheet at rows and rows of names, while Shivambu’s response ran concurrently on X—the digital contrast between paper ambition and instant ridicule hitting harder than any formal rebuttal could have.

Voters in South Africa will have to wait until the next municipal cycle to find out if the 72,000 names on a registration database actually translate into ballot crosses. In the meantime, they can watch three formations compete for the same disgruntled electorate and decide which one deserves their wrath and which one squandered it.

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