EFF statement following manifesto launch for 2024 elections

15 February 2024

The Economic Freedom Fighters takes this opportunity to thank the people of Kwazulu-Natal province, structures of the EFF and all ground-forces of the movement who came in their numbers to attend the launch of the 2024 Elections Manifesto.

The EFF has once more demonstrated that it is the only movement that has a national footprint and exists in every ward and voting district of South Africa. We did this by launching the 2024 Elections Manifesto without busing people from other provinces as the stadium was filled by the people of Kwazulu-Natal, an undisputable scientific fact that the EFF exists as a mass movement.

The EFF 2024 Elections Manifesto and all the commitments we have made are a clear demonstration that our agenda stands for the benefit of our people.

We take note that despite the EFF success, the state attempted to undermine our programme using tribalism disguised as cultural events and failed.

The EFF condemns tribalism, and we call on all our structures and ground-forces in Kwazulu-Natal, Gauteng, Limpopo, North-West and all other provinces to remain focused and disciplined without degenerating into tribalist tendencies.

The EFF 2024 Elections Manifesto is a clear programme of action, particularly our commitments on land, jobs, energy and electricity, education, public safety, and all other areas under the clarion call, 'OUR LAND AND JOBS NOW! STOP LOAD SHEDDING!

The emphasis on LAND derives from the fact that 30 years since the attainment of political freedom, 80% of the population continues to occupy less than 10% of South Africa's land. Landlessness is still the lived reality of the majority of our people.

The emphasis on JOBS is motivated by the sad reality that after 30 years of attempts at addressing the joblessness, more than 15 million capable South Africans who need jobs are unemployed, with no hope that anything will change unless the current government is changed.

The emphasis on NOW is informed by the fact that 30 years is a rather long time for any political party to keep making empty promises. The emphasis on NOW is also because our people live in absolute poverty. Similarly, the emphasis on NOW is because our people are landless.

The emphasis on NOW is because our people are jobless. Yet again the emphasis on NOW is because the crises of racialized poverty, inequality, underdevelopment, landlessness, and joblessness are being experienced NOW, and must be resolved NOW!

The emphasis on STOP LOAD SHEDDING is due to the fact that despite many empty promises, the South African government has not brought forth a dependable electricity plan that will guarantee the supply of electricity to all its citizens.

We remain resolute that the EFF government will expropriate all land without compensation for equal redistribution in use, create millions of jobs through re-industrialization using the state, stop load shedding, rebuild our education system, and fix crime in this country.

We remain resolute that the EFF government will prioritise rebuilding of South Africa's defense capabilities, prioritise primary healthcare, increase social grants and fight for women to end gender-based violence.

These and many other commitments are what will change the lives of our people and deliver economic freedom in our lifetime.

We condemn the suspension of the EFF Members of Parliament. The timing of the suspension was deliberate to prevent the EFF leadership from attending the State of the Nation Address to protect the dying ANC and the incompetent and the president who is out of touch with reality.

The EFF has picked up that Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa continues to misrepresent the achievements of the governing party.

He claims that the past 30 years have changed the lives of our people, yet the past 30 years of so-called freedom has brought nothing to most of our people.

He claims that the governing party has built strong institutions to protect fundamental freedoms and human rights of all people, yet it is the ANC government who massacred 34 mine workers broad day light, killed Andries Tatane and continues to allow students to fall in pit toilets.

He claims that we have a diverse the economy whose minerals and agricultural products reach every corner of the world while creating jobs, yet these sectors remain dominated by whites and our people are massively unemployed.

Our honest and truthful view of what transpired in the past 30 years is that apartheid only ended on paper and continued unchanged particularly in the economy.

We continue to export raw material while many of the industries in South Africa have closed since 1994, and it has worsened since Mr. Ramaphosa took over.

More than 11 million people are unemployed. There are more than 3 million people in South Africa today who have lost all hope of ever finding a job. Majority of these are young people.

30 years ago in 1994, majority of landowners in South Africa were the white colonial settlers, and 30 years later in 2024, the majority of land owners are still the settlers and their biological descendants.

30 years ago in 1994, wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few white rich people, and 30 years later in 2024, the economy of South Africa is still owned, controlled and dominated by the very same few rich people.

30 years ago in 1994, MORE THAN 90 percent of informal settlements dwellers were black Africans, AND 30 YEARS later in 2024, informal settlements dwellers still look like me and you.

30 YEARS AGO, the levels of black-on-black violence was very high and 30 years later, the levels of black-on-black violence continues unabated with more than 27 000 people murdered in 2023.

This 30 year of so-called democracy has only brought more wealth to the white minority settlers and condemned our people to perpetual and endless poverty and suffering.

It is the EFF that will bring about true freedom, economic freedom and change the lives of our people. We call on our people not to be tricked into believing falsehoods by fraudsters who are hellbent on selling strategic state-owned assets that belongs to our people.

Now that we have launched the 2024 Elections Manifesto, we are going to launch provincial manifestos on the following dates:

a. Gauteng Provincial Manifesto launch will be held on the 2nd of March 2024 at Dobsonville Stadium, Johannesburg Region (Soweto);

b. Mpumalanga will be held on the 9th of March 2024 at KaNyamazane Stadium, Enhlanzeni Region (Mbombela);

c. North West will be held on the 16th of March 2024 at Boitekong Stadium, Bojanala Region (Rustenburg);

d. Free State Provincial Manifesto launch will be held on the 17th of March 2024 at Zamdela Stadium, Fezile Dabi Region (Sasolburg);

e. Eastern Cape Provincial Manifesto launch will be held on the 21st of March 2024 at Jan Smuts Stadium, Buffalo City Metropolitan (East London);

f. Northern Cape will be held on the 23rd of March 2024 at Galeshewe Stadium, Francis Baard (Kimberley); and

g. Western Cape will be on the 24th of March 2024 at Gugulethu Stadium, Cape Metro (Cape Town).

h. The Province of Limpopo will host the Tshela Thupa Rally as the final elections rally to intensify the campaign towards total electoral victory, on a date to be announced in due course.

We call on all our structures and ground-forces to remain focused and disciplined as we move to consolidate, get our people, young and old, to register to vote, and to vote for our land and jobs now, and to end load shedding.

The EFF is pleased to announce that on the 11th and 12th of February 2024 we held our List Conference at the Durban Exhibition Centre, KwaZulu-Natal. The EFF List Conference, which was constituted by regional and provincial structures of the EFF, sat to consolidate, and vote on the names that ought to be submitted to the IEC for seats in the Provincial Legislatures and Parliament after elections. These names will ultimately be considered by the List Conference Committee, which is constituted by the EFF Top 6 officials, and sent to the IEC. The EFF can assure the people of South Africa that it will send the best from within its ranks to lead South Africa, as the list process is defined by criteria that places great emphasis on merit and competence.

Some of the criteria includes that;

a) 40% of all names from the lists must be youth,

b) 50% or more of the names submitted must be women

c) There must be at least ten (10) PhD holders in the EFF List to Parliament

d) A matric certificate is the minimum requirement to form part of the EFF List

e) An emphasis that those on the EFF Lists must hold and pursue post-matric education.

f) All those who seek to return to Parliament must outline what they have done during their tenure as Parliamentarians.

It is the criteria that must be an assurance to South Africans that the EFF is ready to govern, and this will be defined by the character of the public representatives we elect to power. The EFF List Conference was a resounding success, with no incidents of violence, vote buying or intimidation, and was yet another confirmation of the EFF's commitment to internal party democracy.

Following this, we call on all structures to focus all their energies on the campaign for total elections victory, using the EFF's Manifesto as the weapon to win the hearts and minds of our people. The campaign must continue to be based on umntu emntwini/motho mothong, as every vote counts in the war for Economic Freedom.

We reiterate the call for Cyril Ramaphosa to announce the election date, as his delay will not save him from his inevitable removal from office. Until then, all South Africans must continue to Register To Vote on the IEC Elections Website, as the voters roll remains open until such a time the election date is proclaimed.

We take this opportunity to welcome back home and congratulate Bafana Bafana for their courageous performance and the bronze medal in the recent AFCON competition. We believe that we can build on this progress.

We call on SAFA to make sure that they pay reasonable remuneration to players and the technical team for the national team and ensure that there is equal pay for Banyana Banyana.

We call upon the racist cooperate South Africa to sponsor Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana as they are equally important to the development of sports.

The EFF reiterates the call by the EFF Students Command that the contracts of all four service providers which were irregularly appointed at NSFAS must be terminated with immediate effect, as determined an independent forensic report. The continued irregularity at NSFAS is something that must be fought tooth and nail if we are to resolve the crisis of funding of students, and this can only be done through uprooting corruption.

The EFF notes the recent attacks on Palestine, a clear demonstration of defiance by the racist genocidal apartheid Israel and their murderous Benjamin Netanyahu and undermining of the International Court of Justice that ordered Israel to stop.

If the bombardment and genocide of Palestinians continues, we will be left with no choice but to march to the American Embassy as sponsors of the war and genocide in Palestine.

We are proud to announce the return of fighter Sixo Gcilishe as head of Digital communication and stakeholder relations in the president's office. We wish her well in her new responsibilities.

Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 15 February 2024