Well he clearly jumped ship as soon as the other party got popular. But he would always have been seen as Malema's deputy, always as his shadow.
I wonder if the EFF might merge with MK in the future, since they both come from identical backgrounds, being expelled ANC leaders forming new parties, drinking from the same Marxist ideological pond, both parties leaders, including Shivambu, stealing money from the poor through fraud and corruption. It's like they were made for each other, if only Malema can overcome the fact that Zuma was the one that started the process of kicking out Malema from the ANC.