EFF Freedom Day statement
27 April 2023
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) marks the 27th of April, which is observed as Freedom Day in South Africa as yet another reminder of the shortfalls of the political freedom achieved in South Africa in 1994. It was on this day that all South Africans of all races participated in the first democratic election in our country, yet 29-years later the objective realities of our people remain that of humiliation, poverty, landlessness and inequality.
The EFF is of the firm belief that the declaration of the 27th of April as Freedom Day was premature, because the core objectives of the struggle against colonial dispossession and the Apartheid system have not been achieved. Instead of the democratisation of wealth, the provision of free quality healthcare, education, housing and a corrupt free society, which were the core objectives of the revolution, South Africa is characterised by a false unity based on reconciliation that is devoid of justice.
The negotiated-settlement achieved in 1994, has resulted in racists and white-supremacists being emboldened, because they continue to control the means of production and their only interaction with African people is at the level of Africans being their servants. Our mines are controlled by foreign interests and our economy is manipulated by the elite to serve the political interests of the white-minority.
African children continue to travel long and dangerous distances to receive education, and on too many occasions fall to their deaths in pit toilets, while their white counterparts attend schools with decent
infrastructure and conducive extra-mural activities. Black communities are defined by filth and rubbish, and have become dumping sites which emphasis how lesser human beings black people are in this country.
The people of South Africa, particularly women and children are gripped by fear as violent crime destroys our society and no justice is ever found by victims of Gender Based Violence. It is nonsensical to claim that there is freedom in South Africa when the entire nation witnesses frequent assassinations and mass shootings, and is trapped in the anxiety of whether they are next.
South Africa's political and economic policy is controlled and dictated by the West and those who oppressed us, demand from time to time that we surrender our capacity in aviation, railway, energy generation to a parasitic private sector, and accumulate debt as s means to stifle our development.
As the EFF we therefore reiterate on this day that political freedom without economic freedom is meaningless!
We call on all the people of South Africa to mark 29-years of the first democratic election in South Africa, by Registering To Vote EFF! The only way true Freedom, which is not a fallacy will be achieved in South Africa is through the removal of the incapable and corrupt ruling party, in favour of a socialist alternative in the form of the EFF.
Let us head to the streets and register our people to vote, let us go to our communities and reclaim the dignity of our people from illegal dumping sites and let us educate our society to vote for Economic Freedom In Our Lifetime!
Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 27 April 2023
