EFF press statement following the 16th Central Command Team meeting
23 August 2022
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) held its 16th Central Command Team (CCT) Meeting, of the 2nd National People's Assembly from the 19th to the 21st of August 2022. The CCT, which is the highest decision making body of the EFF between National People's Assemblies, reflected on numerous issues which included the immediate program to remove the corrupt Cyril Ramaphosa from Office, organisational renewal, the high levels of crime, as well as matters affecting the country, the continent, and the diaspora.
Primarily, the Central Command Team of the EFF reached concurrence on the convening of the Provincial People's Assemblies of Gauteng and the North West Province. The elective assemblies of these two provinces, will convene, with North West convening on the 2nd to the 4th of September 2022, and Gauteng convening on the 9th to the 11th of September 2022. As such, the EFF encourages all delegates, leaders, and members of the EFF to practice the highest level of discipline, ahead and during the Provincial People's Assemblies, and ensure that they always comply with the Constitution of the EFF, the Code of Revolutionary Conduct and the Guidelines of the Assemblies.
The EFF extends its appreciation to all structures and members of the organisation, for waging a massive campaign to ensure that the organisation achieves the target of 1 Million Members by the end of 2022. The organisation has been appraised of the rogress towards meeting the targets in the respective provinces, and regions, and is pleased that several regions in South Africa have met their targets. We are even more pleased, by the fact that the regions of Sekhukhune and Waterberg in the province of Limpopo, John Taolo Gaetsewe in the Northern Cape, as well as Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati in the North West, have achieved the targets set for them towards the target to achieve 1 Million Members. This is indeed a confirmation, that the process of organisational renewal in the province of Limpopo, is on track, and the province is taking up, its rightful position as an organisation of the people in Limpopo.
As an organisation, we are also pleased that the membership and verification systems of the organisation have ensured that there is fairness and transparency, in the Branch General Assemblies and Branch People's Assemblies, which elected delegates to Provincial Assemblies. Individuals who have attempted to cheat and mislead the organisation, have been met with the necessary consequences.
This includes the suspensions of the following members;
1. *Rueben Mohulatsi*
Bojanala Regional Secretary
Madibeng Local Municipality PR Councillor
Suspended for 3 Years
2.*Winnie Majola*
Bojanala RCT member
Rustenburg Local Municipality PR Councillor
Suspended for 1 year
3. *Thiwe Nqiniso*
Dr Kenneth Kaunda RCT Treasurer
Dr Kenneth Kaunda District municipality PR Councillor
Suspended for 2 years
All disputes have been ventilated through the internal disciplinary mechanisms of the EFF, and where fraudulent activity has been detected, it has been attended to decisively.
We take this opportunity to also thank all outgoing Provincial leaders of the EFF, who have contributed to the growth of the organisation over the past four years. The selflessness, and dedication of leaders of the Provincial Structures of the EFF, will be recorded in the history books, and future generations will remember the contribution of this generation, to the agenda of Economic Emancipation.
The EFF reaffirms its stance on the need to hold Cyril Ramaphosa accountable, for the crimes committed on Phala Phala Farm. It is an undeniable fact that the popular media, and many analysts, and journalists of the regime, have dedicated themselves to efforts of downplaying and defending Ramaphosa. This is because, the vested class interests in South Africa, cannot allow their project, which they have invested in, to be removed from Office, before they receive the guarantees of what they paid for to ensure Ramaphosa is elected.
The EFF will not get tired, and will ensure that Ramaphosa does not finish his term of office. We thus, call on all principled members of the opposition, and civil society, to join in ensuring that Ramaphosa does not get away with the crimes he has committed. No one, no matter what so-called standing, must be allowed to defend and justify the crimes of money laundering, tax evasion, kidnapping, torture, and concealing of a crime, as matters of insignificance. These are crimes that would ordinarily result in a swift impeachment of any Head of State, and any impression that seeks to portray Ramaphosa as the reason for stability in a country which is collapsing, must be rejected with the contempt it deserves.
As the third largest political party represented in the Parliament of South Africa, the EFF will also explore and participate in legislative and judicial measures to hold Ramaphosa accountable. This includes a Section 89 Committee process which must lead to the ultimate impeachment of the President, as well as a Motion of No Confidence. The EFF, and a majority of opposition parties represented in Parliament, appreciate that, these two processes address separate material failures and breaches of Office by the President, and are mechanisms to hold him accountable, and also complement each other.
We condemn the attempts by the South African Reserve Bank, the South African Revenue Services, the Financial Intelligence Centre, and sections of the South African Police Service who are currently involved in an illegal and unlawful cover up, of the crimes committed in Phala Phala. We caution employees of these institutions that their efforts to cover up the crimes committed by Cyril Ramaphosa, will get them arrested, and jailed for a very long time, because they are defeating the ends of Justice.
Moreover, the EFF calls for the immediate resignation of the Minister of Finance, and pervert, Enoch Godongwana, who has added sexual harassment, on top of his complete failure of managing the South African economy. The continued stay of Enoch Godongwana in office, is a spit in the face of the 9 516 victims of rape, who opened cases at police stations between April and June 2022. It is also a reflection that we are led by a government which has no regard for women. It is a government of a Finance Minister who abuses women in their places of profession. It is a government of a President who tortures a female domestic worker, because of his uncontrollable greed.
If Godongwana had any respect for the Office he holds, and the women of this country, he would have long resigned — but, he has not done so because, he draws inspiration from his criminal President, who is unrepentant in the face of calls for accountability. The EFF is further disturbed by the high levels of crime which are afflicting South Africa. This includes the mass-shootings, and deaths in taverns, the disturbing levels of murder, and most gruesomely, the concerning gang-rape of 8-women in Krugersdorp.
The latest statistics which reveal that there have been 6424 murders between April and June 2022, confirm that our country is a nation that is engaging in a war. These deaths are higher than the number of deaths in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and show that our people are being killed at an intolerable rate in our communities. The gang-rapes in Krugersdorp, are a sign of a country of men who have lost their sense of morality. There is no level of poverty, unemployment, or state of living, that can inspire one to rape.
There is a war against the women of this country, and it can no longer be ignored. The EFF will form part and parcel of efforts to combat crime in our communities, and this begins by building formidable policing, and invalidating the cultures and attitudes within our society, which diminish and objectify women.
The EFF observes the 10th Anniversary of the Marikana Massacre, which saw 34-miners gunned down, as a result of a toxic collusion between the state and white-monopoly capital. It is a sad reality, that not a single individual has been arrested, for the murder of the workers in Marikana, and even worse, the man who was at the centre of the Massacre, was rewarded with a position of President of South Africa. The people of Marikana deserve justice, and as an organisation which draws its birth from that painful moment in our country, the EFF will always pay its respect to those fearless mine workers, who stood against a government which betrayed them, and a capitalistic system which uses them to generate wealth, without developing our society.
Over the past few weeks, we as the leadership of the EFF, and in our capacity as Members of Parliament, have met with former Pick n Pay Franchisees who are exploited and treated unfairly by Pick n Pay. Pick n Pay has used these black people to establish their presence in black communities, and now have turned against them, and left them with huge debts. We have written 2 letters to Pick n Pay requesting a meeting with them, to raise the concerns of the exploited Franchisees, and Pick n Pay has refused. We want to caution them that if they continue to refuse to meet the EFF, they will leave us with no option but to close all their stores in South Africa. We will write to them the third and final letter, and we demand that they must positively respond this time, or we will be forced into militant action. There is no private company in South Africa that should refuse to engage with and listen to the concerns of the people, particularly when approached by elected Members of Parliament.
The EFF applauds the people of Kenya, for engaging in a peaceful election, which saw President William Ruto elected as the new President of Kenya. President Ruto must thus form part of the efforts of building an independent continent, which is free from war and poverty. This morning, I spoke to President elect Willian Ruto and congratulated him for winning the democratic elections in Kenya. We encourage President Ruto to handle and preside over the transition with maximum care in a manner that must not degenerate into violent confrontations.
We call on Mr. Raila Odinga to accept the elections outcome, and not form part of a tradition of causing instability, and uncertainty on African governance. Mr. Odinga must humble himself, and from part of a government that will address the challenges confronting the people of Kenya, and not allow history to remember him as an individual who was desperate for power, at the cost of the progress of his nation.
Finally, the EFF takes this opportunity to welcome King Misizulu Ka Zwelethini, as the new King of the Zulu nation. The Zulu nation occupies a place of significance in the history of the continent, as a nation that defied colonial conquest, and waged
commendable struggles against forces of colonialism in defence of our land. The EFF further calls for unity within the Zulu Royal family, and for the acceptance of the new King who has assumed a great responsibility as a custodian of our collective history, and traditions of the Zulu Nation.
It must also be noted that the presence of people of Zulu descent from nations such as Tanzania, Malawi, ESwatini, Congo, and other various places in the continent, confirms our long held notion that Africans have always been one. We must thus remain committed to the economic and socio-political unity of the continent, so that Africa can assume its rightful place as a leader in development, utilizing its mineral wealth.
Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 23 August 2022
