EFF MEDIA STATEMENT FOLLOWING THE 18th CENTRAL COMMAND TEAM MEETING AND 4th ANNUAL PLENUM OF THE 2" NATIONAL PEOPLES' ASSEMBLY
Sunday, 29 January 2023
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) held its 18th Central Command Team (CCT) Meeting and the 4th Annual Plenum from the 26th to the 29th of January 2023 respectively. The Plenum is a strategic planning meeting of the EFF constituted by the leadership of the EFF from the Central Command Team, Provincial and Regional Command Teams, as well as the EFF Students' Command and Members of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures.
The year 2023 marks 10-years since the formation of the EFF, a remarkable achievement that is testament to the ideological and organisational strength of this Economic Emancipation Movement. As an organisation born out of the painful struggle for dignity in Marikana, the attainment of a decade of existence reaffirms the commitment the EFF has to fulfil the centuries old struggle, of fighting against colonialism, oppression, and dispossession.
The EFF Central Command Team and Plenum reflected through deliberations in plenary and Commissions on how best to mark the historic milestone of the EFF turning 10-years old and reaffirmed the selflessness of the struggle for Economic Freedom. Accordingly, the Plenum has resolved that the 10th Year of the EFF will be marked as The Year For Massive Political Education and Voter Registration.
At the centre of all programmes and activities of the EFF in 2023 will be intensified political education and voter registration. The political education department will conduct consistent public lectures in virtual platforms and physically with the aim of raising the levels of political consciousness amongst our members and members of society.
The EFF political education content will be accessible to all members of the public. Additionally, the EFF has resolved to embark on a voter registration campaign, wherein all structures are expected to register new voters on the voters roll.
The EFF has for far too long competed with political parties for a voter base that has not been registered and mobilised to be voters by it, and it is now time to create a new voter population that will usher in a new government in South Africa, after the watershed 2024 National and Provincial Government Elections.
The EFF is more than confident that the 2024 National and Provincial Government Elections will mark a titanic shift in the political landscape of South Africa, wherein the future of the country will change drastically. We therefore encourage all people to ensure they are registered to vote, and to be part of the historic change that our country will undergo.
This comes after the credible realisation that the EFF has grown tremendously over the past 10 Years and has now reached a stage where we are ready to govern. This will in the immediate require a deliberate effort to politically educate not only the 1-Million Members of the EFF, but society as a whole, to the ideals and principles of a socialist government, so that our people rally behind and defend the gains of Economic Freedom once it is attained. The EFF will celebrate its 10th Anniversary at the FNB Stadium on the 29th of July 2023, in what will be the biggest ever festival of the poor. Society will bear witness to a celebration that will re-energise this peoples' movement towards the liberation of Africans from the chains of humiliation, landlessness, and oppression.
The Central Command Team of the EFF, which is the highest decision-making body of the EFF between National Peoples' Assemblies deliberated on a variety of issues which included the Annual Report of all organisational activity in the year 2022. The CCT amongst other things considered the need to recompose the deployment of Public Representatives to Parliament and Legislatures, following the Provincial Peoples' Assemblies which were held in 2022.
Accordingly, a number of Members of Parliament and Legislatures who occupied those positions on the basis of the political responsibilities they held in EFF Structures, will resign with immediate effect, to ensure there is alignment between the leadership of our structures and the leadership of the EFF in governance.
The EFF takes this opportunity to thank all those who served the EFF diligently within the sphere of governance and salute them for championing the struggle for Economic Freedom In Our Lifetime. Their names and their service will forever remain written in history as they continue to be at the forefront of the struggles of our people.
The EFF is pleased to have started the year 2023 with a decisive victory in the recent by-elections in Ward 10 in Polokwane, Limpopo. The EFF retained the ward and defeated the ANC and chance-takers who take the will of our people for granted. The victory in Ward 10, coupled with the remarkable increase in votes for the EFF in Ward 17 in Blouberg Municipality In Limpopo from 302 votes to 953 votes, are a further confirmation that the rebuilding process in Limpopo is going well. We encourage all fighters not only in Limpopo but across the country to replicate this success, as we head towards total victory in 2024.
The EFF reiterates that the so-called Just Energy Transition, which is based on the misguided and imperialist experiment in South Africa of abandoning coal as an energy source, must be rejected. The West and the United States of America in particular must rest assured that no EFF government will repay the loans they have given Cyril Ramaphosa to destroy South Africa's coal industry.
South Africans must unite in defence of the coal mining industry and lead a revolt against the destruction of jobs and lives of our people, in service of hypocritical Western Nations, who are increasing their use of coal at a large scale. South Africa must do everything in its power to use clean coal technologies because we will not be able to immediately abandon coal as a source of energy, particularly electricity.
Moreover, the EFF will host an Energy Symposium, which will be attended by experts such as engineers and individuals with technical experience in energy generation, who will contribute to the development of a comprehensive and permanent solution to the rolling electricity blackouts.
The date of the symposium will be announced, and it will produce thorough and well-researched insight, on how to strike a balance between existing means to generate energy and the use of renewable energy to protect the environment.
The EFF believes that part of the immediate solutions to South Africa's electricity crisis should be plugging in the Floating Power Stations (also known as the FLOATING STORAGE REGASSIFICATION UNITS) which rely on Gas and Nuclear into the grid.
The Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, Qatar, Turkey have capacity to bring the Floating Power Stations to the shores of South Africa to provide dependable electricity. A responsible government must in the immediate start the process of sourcing FSRUs to connect into South Africa's grid.
When Germany was faced with electrify crisis, it connected 3 major FSRUs into their grid in less than 12 months.
In the mid to long term, South Africa must engage with the Russian Federation to start the building of Nuclear Power Station in a manner that could be BUILD-OPERATE-TRANSFER (BOT) or through sound POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS that is fiscally neutral and does not drown South Africa's budget.
This intervention does not mean that South Africa should abandon coal as a provider of South Africa's BASELOAD energy. These are the some of the energy solutions the EFF symposium will be expanding on, and we once again caution the sitting government to stay away from the erstwhile colonisers from the WEST who continue to mislead our energy policy.
The EFF held meetings with the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on the 20th of January 2023 and 25th of January 2023 respectively, following a long relationship between the organisations at the level of Local Government since the year 2016. The meetings formed part of the need to not only establish stability in municipalities where voters did not elect an outright winner of elections, but to also create a balance in terms of representation and power sharing in coalitions across municipalities.
Following these meetings, and the inability of the IFP to appreciate the need to cooperate with those who have given them unconditional roles of responsibility in municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, the EFF has resolved to cut all ties with the IFP.
As a result, the EFF will initiate and support motions of no confidence against all IFP Mayors in all Municipalities we PREVIOUSLY voted with them. These include Zululand, Amajuba, Uthukela, Umkhanyakude, King Cetshwayo District Municipalities, and Ulundi, Nongoma, Mtubatuba, uMhlathuze, Jozini, Dannhauser, Alfred Duma, Nkosi Langalibalele, Abaqulusi, Uphongolo, Umhlabauyalingana Local Municipalities.
We will also make sure that the IFP is removed from all positions of responsibilities in all Gauteng Municipalities. We have communicated this with the leadership of the IFP and have instructed EFF Deputy Mayors to resign as Deputy Mayors and remain as ordinary Councillors.
The Central Command Team of the EFF and Plenum resolved that the organisation must no longer be on the touch lines of governance, and that the EFF must begin to occupy meaningful roles of responsibility in local municipalities.
The IFP has unfortunately adopted the arrogant and entitled posture of the racist Democratic Alliance and has confused the power it holds due to the support of the EFF as an election victory. The door is therefore open by the EFF for engagements on how best to structure coalition agreements in the municipalities, for all those who are interested in achieving stability and service delivery in our communities.
The EFF maintains that the current composition of political party leadership in the metropolitans in Gauteng is informed by white-supremacist entitlement. It is illogical for the DA to lead all major metropolitans, while not giving meaningful roles of responsibility to any of its coalition partners. The EFF will continue to participate in the removal of the DA across all metros in order to establish governments that will be transparent, accountable, and humble.
The EFF will during the course of this year be accepting leadership responsibilities of Speakers, Mayors, and Members of Mayoral Committees in different Municipalities. We want to demonstrate to the people of South Africa that we are party that is capable to govern impactfully, ethically and without any form of corruption.
We have additionally agreed to engage in massive Andries Tatane Cleaning Campaign where EFF Members and Ground Forces will clean up our streets and public spaces so as to ensure that we all live in clean environments and communities. The EFF PLENUM has awarded R50 000 to Councillor Baba Sebolai from Mangaung Municipality for being at the forefront of exposing the negligence of the ANC led municipality of all critical infrastructure particularly roads and sewerage system. The PLENUM has additionally awarded R50 000 to Councillor MAFIA MANE of WARD 11 NKOMAZI MUNICIPALITY IN MPUMALANGA for the excellent work he is doing since being elected as a Councillor.
The R50 000 awarded is strictly for A COMMUNITY PROJECT the Councillor will choose where they come from. In Every month of 2023 and 2024, the EFF will award R50 000 to an EFF Public Representative who would have demonstrated excellence and dedication in carrying out their responsibilities, particularly those that help our people on the ground.
We take this opportunity to remind all EFF Public Representatives, inclusive of Councillors, Members of the Provincial Legislature, and Members of Parliament to increase their momentum in doing work for the people of South Africa and still fulfil their organisational obligations and responsibilities.
The EFF Governance Task Unit (GTU) will take detailed reports from all Public Representatives every 6 months to check if they are attending to the work obligations, servicing the schools and clinics they have adopted and attending to all matters of service delivery in all communities. Those who do not do their work diligently will be recalled from Councils, Legislatures and Parliament.
The EFF takes this opportunity to congratulate the 2022 class of Matriculants once again on their final results. It was a difficult journey wherein many did not survive the conditions such as electricity blackouts, walking long distances to schools and using pit toilets. It is unfortunate that we must celebrate the success of children, who have had to fight against inhumane conditions just to receive an education.
The EFF encourages all of those who passed their matric, to pursue postsecondary education at Universities, Universities of Technology and TVET Colleges. Education remains the key to personal and community development, and no child must ever give up on education.
The EFF Students' Command will embark on the Sizofunda Ngenkani Campaign in all campuses, to ensure that no prospective student is denied education on the basis of their background or economic standing. The Sizofunda ngenkani Campaign will ensure that no student is excluded on the basis of a registration fees, debt or because they cannot prove they are poor enough to get student funding.
We have long called for the synchronisation of the database of SASSA and that of NSFAS and the Higher Education Sector, to ensure that SASSA grant beneficiaries are given automatic funding to higher education and are not expected to perform their poverty. The implementation of this call by the Department is a further confirmation of the superior logic of the EFF, and ultimately, we will achieve Free Education.
The EFF has taken Parliament to Court to declare invalid the irrational decision taken to exonerate Cyril Ramaphosa on Phala Phala crimes. There is no amount of political manoeuvring which will make us stop holding Cyril Ramaphosa accountable.
The reality is that there were millions of Dollars that were found in Cyril Ramaphosa's farm, and these Dollars were not declared with the South African Reserve Bank and the SARS (South African Revenue Services). As a responsible and decisive political party that represents the interests of the people, we will not allow a criminal and compromised President to address Parliament until he is held fully accountable.
The economy is collapsing, and the only solution the South African Reserve Bank has for this crisis, is to increase the interest rate every other month. The 25 basis point increase to the Repo Rate is in service of the corrupt financial sector, whose only concern is price stability at the expense of human lives and livelihoods.
The continued rise in food price inflation is destroying South African homes, particularly for the poor and working class whose income does not rise along with the daily increase in the cost of living. South Africans today make an income simply to go to work and survive on loans and debt whose repayment costs continues to rise because of poor macro-economic policy at the Reserve Bank.
Accordingly, in line with the need to resolve the immediate challenges confronting our society, the EFF has resolved to hold a NATIONAL SHUT DOWN TO DEMAND THE RETURN OF ELECTRICITY AND FOR THE RESIGNATION OF CYRIL RAMAPHOSA on the 20th of March 2023.
The reasons for the NATIONAL SHUT DOWN TO DEMAND THE RETURN OF ELECTRICITY AND FOR THE RESIGNATION OF CYRIL RAMAPHOSA is further informed by the following reasons: Rising costs of living for all South Africans.
Rising levels of unemployment and poverty of our people.
Increasing levels of crime, particularly murder and Gender Based Violence.
His decision to close down coal power stations without consultations with the people of South Africa.
Rising levels of corruption, lack of service delivery, and collapsing public infrastructure, particularly hospitals and roads.
Phala Phala scandal where a lot of criminal activities were committed.
The NATIONAL SHUT DOWN means that there will be no school, no university, factories and no business will be operating on that day. All Municipalities and all major cities will be SHUT DOWN and there will be no work ion that day. All major roads will be barricaded and all ports of entry including roads that lead to borders will be closed.
The NATIONAL SHUT DOWN TO DEMAND THE RETURN OF ELECTRICITY AND FOR THE RESIGNATION OF CYRIL RAMAPHOSA will mean that no business operations will be opened on that day and no truck, and no TRAIN will be allowed on the roads and railways, particularly the trucks transporting South Africa's minerals and coal to outside South Africa through Richards Bay. We cannot fold our arms and do nothing when the ANC government and Cyril Ramaphosa, who is involved in a lot
of criminal and questionable dealings and yet protected by law enforcement agencies.
This NATIONAL SHUT DOWN will call for the immediate end to load shedding, which is crippling the South African economy and returning this country to the dark ages. The development and industrialisation of South Africa is already delayed by the continued mis-leadership of the ANC, and load shedding is the final nail in the coffin of businesses and the lives of our people.
All sectors and spheres of society are invited to form part of this historic NATIONAL SHUT DOWN, which will confront the puppet of the capitalist establishment Cyril Ramaphosa directly and expose him as an agent who is determined to sell the sovereignty of South Africa to the highest bidder.
The EFF leadership will be engaging with all Taxi Associations to support the NATIONAL SHUT DOWN and we encourage all our structures at all levels to engage Taxi Associations and all people to support the NATIONAL SHUT DOWN. We call on all people of South Africa to join us in their numbers for the NATIONAL SHUT DOWN to demand our dignity and lives back.
We can never allow and should never allow to be led into the dark ages by an incompetent and useless president. The NATIONAL LEADERSHIP of the EFF will on that day of NATIONAL SHUT DOWN lead a massive protest to the UNION BUILDING TO hand over our demands and instruct Cyril Ramaphosa to step down.
We have instructed our Lawyer Victor Nkhwashu to privately prosecute Gwede Mantashe for his corrupt activities with BOSASA. We do so because South Africa's Law Enforcement Agencies are reluctant and refusing to act against corrupt politicians. We as the EFF will from time to time privately prosecute corrupt politicians who use their power to hide from accountability.
As we head into the 2024 National and Provincial Government Elections, the people of South Africa find themselves at a crossroads. The continued rising levels of unemployment, the increase in the cost of living, the rolling electricity blackouts and rampant corruption and incompetence of the ruling party, are all signs that South Africa is yet another African country that is collapsing after the attainment of liberation.
It has become clear that the ANC has no appetite or capacity to lead South Africa and as a result, generations to come will face the consequences of a government that failed to democratise wealth. We call on all people to ensure that they register to vote, to protect not only their present, but the interests of future generations.
Issued by the EFF, 29 January 2023
