Complaint filed at UN over EFF mayoral candidate

The international nongovernmental organisation UN Watch has filed a formal complaint with United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres over Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng’s acceptance of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) candidacy for the mayorship of Johannesburg. 

UN Watch describes this as a “grave violation and serious misconduct” by Mofokeng, who is still the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health. 

On 25 July, the EFF announced that Mofokeng would be “deployed” as its mayoral candidate for the City of Johannesburg in the November local government elections. Mofokeng has no experience running a city, but is known for her antizionist hate and hurling insults on social media. 

“A UN expert cannot claim to be independent while standing on a political stage, addressing a party leader as ‘Commander-in-Chief’ and accepting ‘deployment’ as that party’s candidate for one of Africa’s most important mayoralties,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer in an official statement. “This is an open-and-shut conflict of interest that strikes at the credibility of the entire UN human rights system.” 

The UN Watch complaint cites two separate abuses: Mofokeng’s public acceptance of the EFF “deployment” while she remains listed as a serving UN mandate holder; and her attempt to invoke UN functional immunity in South African court proceedings concerning her social media insults. 

UN Watch is a Geneva-based nongovernmental organisation whose stated mission is “to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of its own charter”. 

A UN Special Rapporteur cannot actively campaign for or hold partisan political office while serving in their mandate. Mofokeng’s second three-year term runs until August 2026, no resignation letter has been posted on the Human Rights Council extranet, and the UN website continues to list her as Special Rapporteur. 

When she took office, Mofokeng pledged to act from a “completely impartial” standpoint, without accepting instructions from any party. Yet she has publicly accepted the EFF’s mayoral candidacy, making political pledges and referring to Malema as “Commander-in-Chief” on 25 July. 

“By accepting a political party’s ‘deployment’ before her UN term had ended, Mofokeng erased any meaningful distinction between an independent human rights mandate and a partisan political platform,” Neuer said. “Secretary-General Guterres should condemn this breach unequivocally.” 

The UN Watch complaint also asks Guterres to confirm that Mofokeng’s social media attacks weren’t acts performed during her UN mission and therefore aren’t protected by the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN. 

In 2025, Mofokeng posted “fuck you” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After Neuer called for her to be disciplined, she referred to him as “evil scum”. The Health Professions Council of South Africa subsequently found her guilty of misconduct for using abusive language and for bringing the medical profession into disrepute. She was fined R10 000. 

In April, Mofokeng applied to the High Court in Johannesburg to set aside that finding and the sanction. Her principal argument was that the professional council lacked jurisdiction because she enjoyed immunity under the UN privileges and immunities convention. 

UN Watch’s letter cites a broader pattern of posts in which Mofokeng told a critic to “shove it up your ass”, called another person “that hoe”, and described a political figure as a “disgusting elder”. 

She has also said that Hamas aren’t terrorists; called the Jewish State “Israhell”; publicly supported flotilla activists arrested by Israel for terrorism links; publicly endorsed Hamas-linked figures; promoted Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions; and described Israel’s defensive war in Gaza as “genocide”. 

Neuer says, “Functional immunity protects the independent performance of legitimate UN duties; it isn’t a personal licence to disparage people online. To characterise this abuse as the official work of the UN Special Rapporteur on health would degrade both the immunity convention and the UN itself.” 

UN Watch called on Guterres to strongly denounce Mofokeng’s acceptance of a partisan political candidacy while still serving as a UN Special Rapporteur. It also called on him to confirm that her social media posts weren’t made in the performance of her official functions and are therefore not protected by UN functional immunity. 

“Silence from the UN would send a dangerous message: that mandate holders may openly join partisan campaigns and then invoke the UN as a shield against accountability for purely personal misconduct,” Neuer said. “Guterres must act to protect the integrity and reputation of the institution.” 

The EFF’s selection of Mofokeng comes amid much speculation that the African National Congress (ANC) will choose struggle stalwart Reverend Frank Chikane as its mayoral candidate for Johannesburg. 

Like Mofokeng, Chikane is known for his invective against the Jewish State. He has described Israel as worse than apartheid South Africa, accused it of committing “genocide”, publicly backed South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and advocated for isolating Israel globally. 

Meanwhile, the RISE Mzansi mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Lukhona Mnguni, often wears a keffiyeh draped over one shoulder. On 12 May 2021, Mnguni hosted a programme on Power FM on which callers propagated various antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories concerning Jewish financial influence without being challenged by him. The South African Jewish Board of Deputies lodged an official complaint at the time. The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa ruled against the station. 

Elections analyst Wayne Sussman says that on one hand, “we have Helen Zille for the Democratic Alliance [DA] – who I think is leading in the polls – who is a former premier of the Western Cape and mayor of Cape Town. There’s ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba, a former mayor of Johannesburg, as well as Kenny Kunene, a member of the mayoral committee, as the Patriotic Alliance candidate.” 

All three represent “executive experience, which those parties think will be a positive for voters”. 

On the other hand, there’s Mofokeng, possibly Chikane, and Mnguni, “who are seen as people with ‘activist’ credentials”. 

Sussman says it will be interesting to see which type of candidate will emerge as the preferred choice of Johannesburg voters. 

Sara Gon, policy fellow at the Institute of Race Relations, says that both the EFF and the ANC are “unashamedly anti-Israel” so their mayoral candidates’ views fit in with that position. 

However, “I don’t think it’s core to the reasons for their appointment” she says. “Anti-Israeli attitudes aren’t core to their platforms. They don’t resonate with South Africans who want their municipal services improved.” 

She thinks the real issue is the candidates’ fitness to hold office, and to deliver what the citizenry wants. “Neither has experience,” says Gon. “Mofokeng gives no sense of offering anything. I think Chikane is intended, as an old hand with a certain image, to act as a counterweight to Helen Zille. I’m not sure that will work, as he has no profile among many who will vote.” 

South African Zionist Federation national chairperson Craig Pantanowitz says the EFF didn’t choose Mofokeng to fix Johannesburg. “She was chosen because she spent her UN mandate as an anti-Israel agitator, insulting anyone who disagreed. For the EFF, that’s not a blemish on her record. It’s the record they were shopping for.” 

On competence, “she offers nothing”, says Pantanowitz. “She has never run a metro, a department, a water network, or a billing system. Yet Johannesburg is a city of six million people with a budget of more than R97 billion.” 

Johannesburg needs water, electricity, working traffic lights, and accurate bills, says Pantanowitz. “Residents should ask the EFF one question on 4 November: if this is your answer to Johannesburg, what do you think the problem is?”