NALEDI Chirwa may have dug her own grave when she told Mzansi that the EFF had fined her for attending to her sick child.
The letter of apology that she penned and was widely publicised drew a lot of criticism to the party and this seems to have angered her boss, Julius Malema.
He took to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, 6 March to vent his disapproval of how the letter was written.
Malema wrote: "The letter is inappropriate insinuations that have forced our movement into a defensive stance, detracting our members from the immediate task of doing door-to-door because they must now defend their movement from rubbish. In situations where we must choose between an individual and the organisation, we must always prioritise the organisation @EFFSouthAfrica."
Naledi shared her apology letter publicly after she was reprimanded by the EFF for failing to attend the budget speech on 21 February because her child was sick.
"My four-month-old daughter was sick and so I went home," she said in her apology that she posted on X.
She said her daughter was now living with her gogo until post-elections to allow her a chance to be completely engaged in organisational work and to form part of the collective that will usher an EFF government after the election on 29 May.
ALSO READ | Dad 'kills' three kids and hangs himself
She claimed she reported her absence to the party but not the designated whip in their caucus in Parliament.
"Unfortunately for the budget speech, there was no hybrid facility that could allow me to be present online (only physical attendance for the budget speech) thus my inability to be present," the letter read.
Political commentator Tessa Dooms said Chirwa's letter was more extensive than the EFF leadership would assume and that she was putting out a signal to the public about how she felt she was treated without saying so.
"I think it was politically her putting out a signal that she didn't feel that all her circumstances were taken into account. There was no reason for a letter that long unless she was trying to make that signal. I do think she wasn't direct about that, but that's the implication. I think that it was meant to stir up a response from the public," she said.
However, Chirwa told Dooms to stop using her name.
She wrote on X: "This is the disingenuousness I loathe with NGO feminists. Opportunistic and void of being sensitive to Black Womanhood. Start your lobby group without using my name, Tessa. Your interest isn't magnifying black women's experiences but attacking the EFF for a bank notification. Sies."
Chirwa was ordered to buy two gazebos as her fine.
