Former EFF member Magasela Mzobe, who is now with the MK Party (MKP), says he will be the “eyes, ears and hands” of Jacob Zuma after being appointed to head the party leader’s office this week.
Mzobe dumped the EFF late last month to join Zuma’s party. The MKP announced his appointment as “head of the presidency”.
Speaking to TimesLIVE, Mzobe said his appointment came as Zuma needed to delegate some responsibilities to allow him to focus on other “pressing matters”.
“The mandate is to try to minimise the number of people who go to his office so he has more time to do the things he needs to do as a president. He’s not young. He’d want to carefully select specific tasks that can be done by him so he can be effective in those responsibilities.
“He’s trying to minimise his involvement in the day-to-day running of the organisation, but there are specific things that need presidential attention so we can run an effective organisation,” he said.
‘I will be Zuma’s eyes, ears and hands’: Magasela Mzobe on leaving EFF to head MK Party leader's office
Journalist
Image: MKP/Emacous Photography_24
Former EFF member Magasela Mzobe, who is now with the MK Party (MKP), says he will be the “eyes, ears and hands” of Jacob Zuma after being appointed to head the party leader’s office this week.
Mzobe dumped the EFF late last month to join Zuma’s party. The MKP announced his appointment as “head of the presidency”.
Speaking to TimesLIVE, Mzobe said his appointment came as Zuma needed to delegate some responsibilities to allow him to focus on other “pressing matters”.
“The mandate is to try to minimise the number of people who go to his office so he has more time to do the things he needs to do as a president. He’s not young. He’d want to carefully select specific tasks that can be done by him so he can be effective in those responsibilities.
“He’s trying to minimise his involvement in the day-to-day running of the organisation, but there are specific things that need presidential attention so we can run an effective organisation,” he said.
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Mzobe said Zuma had growing responsibilities and needed his office to work closely with the party’s MPs.
“He felt he needed an office that would be able to interface with parliament and the legislature while allowing the party’s leadership to lead the building of structures. He felt he needed me to be his eyes, ears and hands to implement tasks. That’s the brief he gave me.”
Mzobe is a former ANC Youth League leader and served under Zuma’s leadership when he was ANC president.
“It’s a huge responsibility. I don't want to take it for granted. Having worked with Zuma before, I think I understand what he wants me to do and help him with. I’m up for the task, and I’m confident we'll be able to help him and his office to run the MKP.”
When asked about his decision to leave the EFF for the MKP, Mzobe said: “It was not a difficult decision because I see the MKP and EFF fighting for the same constituency and ideas, but in different vehicles.”
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He said he received support from EFF leaders when he left the party.
“I informed the leaders of the EFF from day 1 when Zuma contacted me. They have been aware these discussions were happening with the president of the MKP. With their advice they felt it might be prudent for me to help the president of the MKP with the task he assigned me.
“The relationship between me and the EFF is still good. There’s no animosity as far as I know because I had to respect each organisation’s constitution. I had to resign.”
TimesLIVE
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