A history of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in South African politics, 2013-2018

English: This dissertation uses books, chapters in books, newspaper clippings, internet sources and party documents to locate the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) history in South African politics from 2013 to 2018. The dissertation investigates the rationale behind the formation of the EFF and evaluates the political role that the EFF has played in South African politics from 2013-2018. It examines the rationale behind the formation of the EFF, maps the role of the EFF in South African politics, and further evaluates its participation in the 2014 national and 2016 local elections. It further looks into the role of the EFF in parliament and its impact from 2014 to 2018. It concludes that the EFF has played a critical role in South African politics. It illustrates that the EFF has positioned itself in the broader scope of South African politics through its active role in parliament and participation in the 2014 national and 2016 local government elections, respectively. The EFF played a critical role in taking votes from the voting constituencies and others of the ANC. In these two elections (2014 and 2016), the EFF has shown upward mobility, my dissertation compared the two in terms of voter turnout and votes that the EFF got. One noticeable phenomenon is the misuse of democratic centralism, which denies other leaders within the party to appear as equal and as important as Julius Malema.