The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has decided to disband all party structures in Limpopo in light of the drop in support in the 2021 municipal elections.

EFF leader Julius Malema made the announcement on Tuesday morning at a media briefing called by the party to communicate the outcomes of its plenum, held over the weekend.

Malema said the party's 40-member central command team (CCT), the highest decision-making structure between conferences, "took exception to the electoral decline in votes and seats that occurred in Limpopo during last year's municipal elections".

"As a result, the CCT resolved to disband the Limpopo provincial command team, all regional command teams, and branch command teams," said the EFF leader.

Malema said his organisation would work toward rebuilding all constitutional structures and recruit members for the provincial people's assemblies.

"The CCT has deployed the following commissars who will lead the rebuilding operations in Limpopo. Convener of Limpopo will be commissar Mbuyiseni Ndlozi. Coordinator of Limpopo will be commissar Rebecca Mohlala."

Other EFF leaders, including former party treasurer-general Leigh-Ann Mathys, will also be part of the team tasked with reviving the party's fortunes in Malema's home province.

"These commissars will immediately take full responsibility for all activities of the EFF in the Limpopo province and will appoint fighters to form a provincial interim core and regional core to prepare for regional and provincial people's assembles [and] will be convened before the end of 2022," said Malema.

The EFF leader revealed that during the plenum meeting, the CCT received a detailed elections report which analysed the organisation's performance in the municipal elections in November 2021.

"The CCT meeting noted the organisation's growth in the past elections as the EFF increased its share of the total votes from 8% in 2016 to 10.3% in the 2021 elections. The party also welcomed the total council representatives, which increased from 826 in 2016 to 1 066 in the 2021 elections. The party acknowledged that the elections occurred under abnormal conditions, made so by the current pandemic. However, despite these challenges, the organisation was satisfied by how fighters led a disciplined and formidable campaign," said Malema.

He added that the decision to disband party structure in Limpopo was merely motivated by a desire to grow the party. He gave the example of previous party interventions in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal having been successful.

"Today, we [as the EFF] are celebrating our achievements in KZN and the Eastern Cape. KZN is the first province to have seven deputy mayors, all from the EFF. It is through those interventions that were made earlier.

"When we disbanded KZN at that time, a lot of people doubted what we were doing and actually even accused us of purging people for factional reasons. They had performed badly, and we were intervening on an organisational basis.

"The same thing is repeating itself in Limpopo. When we went to the election in 2014, they led in terms of support for the EFF, and in 2019 only increased votes by 1 000. It was a sign that they were struggling. And if we had an intervention, maybe we would have done better. When the secretary-general presented the number this time around, it was evident that there was a serious decline in Limpopo to the extent that they even lost 25 councillors. We can't fold our arms and say the leadership is our friend," said Malema.