In an appeal posted on the party’s social media, EFF president Julius Malema called on supporters to donate online, saying that “all peace-loving South Africans, revolutionaries from the African continent and the diaspora are implored to finance the revolution”. (Photo by Laird Forbes/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
The Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) internal polls suggest the party’s votes will increase by up to 3% in the 2024 general elections, while the ruling ANC’s support will drop to 45%.
The EFF solidified its position as the third largest party in South Africa in 2019 when it won 10.80% of the electorate.
The party’s internal poll conducted in November last year saw the official opposition Democratic Alliance’s (DA) numbers dropping from 20.77% to 16%, EFF leader Julius Malema said.
He said the numbers regarding support for the ANC could have changed, given the recently escalated load-shedding and claims of corruption in the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The EFF will run another poll in March, he told a media briefing about the party’s 10-year birthday celebrations expected to take place in July.
In 2019, Malema raised concerns about the EFF’s ability to attract female members but on Tuesday he said this had since improved to 45%.
With the EFF finding itself in councils, Malema warned his public representatives against the desire for power, saying part of the party’s problem was in choosing the wrong council candidates.
“It chooses people who are not known for community work. They start loving communities and their people the day they get chosen to be candidates,” he said.
He added that the EFF must have influential people with capacity and “who are loved by the community”.
The party, he said, had attracted new entrants in politics and it would take a considerable amount of time for them to learn that EFF’s political ideology extended beyond unseating the ANC.
ANC councillors would have to adapt to a new EFF that will govern municipalities across the country, he said, urging party representatives to be patient and adhere to legislation with regard to coalitions.
Malema also urged South Africans to participate in a planned 20 March national shutdown to press for Ramaphosa’s removal from office.
He said the country was on the brink of collapse and it was only through demonstrations that South Africans could rescue the nation from what he called a corrupt and incompetent ANC government led by Ramaphosa.
“Conditions in South Africa have worsened under Ramaphosa, with rising levels of
unemployment, poverty, corruption and the collapse of our state owned enterprises.
We are living in permanent darkness, due to the deliberate sabotage of Eskom which
is now on its knees and leaderless,” Malema said.
“The EFF warned the people of South Africa of the verifiable incompetence of the now outgone Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter, who was brought in with the sole intention of destroying and privatising Eskom.
“The people of South Africa must not fall for the cheap tricks of the ruling party, which is now pretending to condemn De Ruyter when they are the ones who appointed him, simply because he is exposing their corruption.”
He said Ramaphosa was part of the reason the country had been greylisted, alleging that the president had failed to declare millions of foreign currencies to the South African Reserve Bank and the South African Revenue Services.
“The president of South Africa is the money launderer in chief, who kept millions of dollars in his mattresses and sofa at Phala Phala farm, undermining our economy and
economic sovereignty,” Malema charged.
Ramaphosa has denied any wrongdoing in the matter involving the 2020 theft of foreign currency from his Limpopo game farm.
Malema lauded the EFF for having exhibited progressive growth in each election. The party now has more than 1 000 public representatives in the country since its establishment in 2014.
“The electoral gains of the EFF, brought a new era into the sphere of governance in South Africa, characterised by anti-corruption, robust accountability in parliament and superior and sophisticated legislative interventions to rescue South Africa from massive unemployment, poverty and from an economy defined by dependency on the West,” Malema said.