Floyd Shivambu
Nyiko Floyd Shivambu (born 1 January 1983) co-founded the Economic Freedom Fighters with Julius Malema in 2013, following their joint expulsion from the ANC Youth League in 2012. He served as EFF deputy president, parliamentary chief whip, and lieutenant commander-in-chief for eleven years, making him the second most prominent face of the party and a forceful parliamentary operator. He resigned from the EFF on 15 August 2024, citing the party’s “embrace of corrupt governance practices” and “abandonment of founding values,” and joined Jacob Zuma’s MK Party, where he served as Secretary-General from November 2024 until his dismissal by Zuma in June 2025. In September 2025 he launched the Afrika Mayibuye Movement, a new registered party targeting the 2026 local elections.
The most serious corruption allegation against Shivambu is his connection to the VBS Mutual Bank looting. Scorpio (Daily Maverick, 2018–2022) reconstructed the money trail through leaked VBS banking records: Brian Shivambu (Floyd’s brother) received R16,148,569 from VBS via his companies Sgameka Projects and Grand Azania. Scorpio found that almost all of Grand Azania’s expenses and assets were for Floyd Shivambu’s personal benefit — the Grand Azania bank card physically followed him around the country. SARS traced R3.6 million in VBS loot directly into Floyd Shivambu’s FNB Private Wealth account across 23 payments. SARS also demanded R28.2 million in unpaid taxes and penalties from Brian Shivambu, characterising his conduct as “intentional tax evasion.” A further R5.3 million in VBS loot was traced from Sgameka/Grand Azania into Mahuna Investments, the front company directed by Malema’s cousin Matsobane Phaleng and used for Malema’s share of the VBS proceeds. The Parliamentary Ethics Committee (October 2023) found Shivambu received at least R180,000 in three payments from Sgameka Projects in 2017 and failed to disclose this — a finding Daily Maverick and amaBhungane characterised as relying on an “inappropriately narrow evidentiary threshold” that ignored the SARS forensic evidence. No criminal charges have been filed against Shivambu as of April 2026, consistent with the NPA’s pattern of inaction on politically connected VBS beneficiaries.
Shivambu’s post-EFF trajectory tracked an accelerating political instability. He joined MK in August 2024, was named Secretary-General in November 2024, and was dismissed by Zuma in June 2025 following an unsanctioned visit to fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri’s church in Malawi (April 2025). Zuma further alleged Shivambu had plotted his removal with foreign backing. Expelled fully on 15 July 2025, Shivambu immediately launched the Mayibuye Consultation Process, recruiting disaffected figures from both the EFF and MK. The Afrika Mayibuye Movement was officially registered with the IEC on 5 September 2025, with a Marxist-pan-African “Restoration Manifesto” targeting the 2026 local elections and 2029 general elections. After his departure, the EFF publicly stated that Shivambu remained “the only person to have ever been found guilty of corruption/misconduct” in the party — a reference to the Parliamentary Ethics Committee finding.
Connections
- Julius Malema — EFF co-founder and leader; jointly implicated in VBS; closely allied for 11 years before split in August 2024
- Brian Shivambu — brother; sole director of Sgameka Projects and Grand Azania; R16.1m VBS conduit; SARS demanding R28.2m
- VBS Mutual Bank — R1.84m–R3.6m+ traced directly to Floyd via Grand Azania and Sgameka; no criminal charges
- uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party — Secretary-General November 2024–June 2025; dismissed by Zuma after Bushiri visit
- Jacob Zuma — political patron at MK; dismissed Shivambu June 2025
- Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) — co-founder; deputy president 2013–2024; resigned August 2024