EFF statement on the swearing-in of its new Members of Parliament
3 June 2015
The Economic Freedom Fighters welcomes the newly sworn in Members of Parliament, Commissars Nazier Paulsen and Dr. Hlayiseka Chewane. Commissars Paulsen and Chewane are members of the EFF Central Command Team elected in the 1st National People’s Assembly and have been members of the EFF since the Organisation started in 2013. They have also been deployed by the EFF to serve the working-class and the poor and advance their struggles for economic freedom.
The new EFF MPs replace former members of the EFF who have been expelled from the party and parliament following a disciplinary process and a court ruling reaffirming the legitimacy of decisions taken to preserve organisational unity, discipline and the pursuit of revolutionary commitments towards economic freedom in our lifetime.
Commissar Chewane previously served in the Students Representative Council in Medunsa for three consecutive terms, one as President. Commissar Chewane was part of the Policy Conference that preceded the National Assembly on “What is to be Done”, and also partook in the historic National Assembly of “What is to be Done”, which resolved to form the EFF as an economic emancipation movement of the people. He currently serves in the Central Command Team that was duly and democratically elected in December 2014. Commissar Chewane is a qualified medical doctor who has been practicing for 10 years in both public and private sector. He will represent the EFF in the Portfolio Committee on Health.
Commissar Paulsen is former representative of the EFF in the Western Cape Provincial Legislature. He was the Convenor in the Western Cape from 17 July 2013 until the First Provincial Peoples Assembly on 22 November 2014. He was also elected to serve in the Central Command Team. Commissar Paulsen is a former Information and Technology Lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and a graduate from the University of Cape Town. He holds a BCom (Honours) degree and Postgraduate Diploma in Distributed Systems. He became active in politics in the 80’s as a student activist and a member of the United Democratic Front. His civic involvemnt includes that as chairperson of the Mitchells Plain Community Development Corporation (1998 – 2001) and chairperson of the South African Progressive Civic Organisation (SAPCO) before joining the Economic Freedom Fighters in 2013. He will serve in the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
They both bring massive experience and commitment to the struggle for economic freedom and will continue to add value as members of parliament.
We wish the newly elected Members of Parliament well and confident that they will carry forward the struggle for economic freedom.
Statement issued by the Office of the EFF Chief Whip, June 3 2015
