EFF statement

5 January 2024

The Economic Freedom Fighters sends its compliments to the people of South Africa and affirms that the economic emancipation movement is still intact and ready to lead South Africa after the 2024 Elections. We welcome all the people of South Africa to the year of economic freedom, the year of the revolution and the year of monumental change in the political landscape of South Africa.

We take this opportunity to convey our sincere gratitude to all EFF Ground Forces and the people of South Africa, who partook in all the programmes of the EFF to celebrate and mark our 10 years of existence. The 10th anniversary programmes and activities of the EFF including the legacy programmes and projects were carried out with optimal and utmost excellence. The EFF demonstrated beyond any doubt that we are a solid and sound organisation with optimal capacity to organize and carry out our programmes successfully. That is what we will continue to do even when we are the government of the province of all provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, and of South Africa from this year onwards.

We also take this moment to welcome the South African government's decision to file an application before the International Court of Justice against Apartheid Israel. We stand in full support of this decisive action, reflecting our unwavering commitment to global justice and human rights. Furthermore, we strongly call on the government to follow through with the National Assembly's motion introduced by the EFF to close the Israel Embassy in South Africa. This move is a critical step towards holding accountable those who have long disregarded international laws and human rights standards.

We take this opportunity to report to the people of South Africa that the targets we set ourselves in preparation for the 2024 General Elections are all fully met. When we established our Elections machinery in August 2023, we set ourselves the task of establishing Branch Elections Task Forces in all of South Africa's 4368 Wards. We are happy to report that as of the 2nd of January 2024, all the 4368 Wards have functional BETFs, which makes it 67 020 members of BETFs who are leading elections machinery at ward level.

When we established the Elections Machinery in August 2023, we set ourselves a target of establishing Voting Districts Elections Task Forces in all of South Africa's 23 296 Voting Districts, we are happy to report that the EFF has functional and verified Voting Districts Elections Task Forces in all the 23 296. We can boldly confirm that as of the 2nd of January 2024, the EFF has verified and audited 481 649 Ground Forces who are Volunteers in all the Voting Districts.

What this means is that the Economic Freedom Fighters has a total of 548 669 Volunteers and Ground Forces who will be campaigning for the EFF for purposes of elections victory in 2024. We call on the young people of South Africa and all the remaining members of the EFF to join in as Volunteers and Organizers for elections victory in 2024. Our Clarion Call is that every young person must be a Volunteer! An Organiser for Elections Victory in 2024! Young people are called upon to join the battalion of Economic Freedom Fighters Volunteers and Organisers!

The 2024 Elections will be a turning point in the history of South Africa's politics and we as the EFF will be at the centre of that monumental change. We know that right wing forces, which are funded and coordinated by the white capitalist establishment, are hard at work to prevent the EFF from ascending to political power in 2024. We want to assure the people of South Africa, the African continent, and the progressive world that the EFF will ascend to government in South Africa after the National and Provincial Elections.

Despite the many commitments and lies told by the sitting government, load shedding is still a reality, and this is what it does: Students just wrote their matric in the dark only to be allowed to spend the rest of December with electricity. There are factories that have closed down leaving hundreds without jobs. Companies are incurring additional costs in security and back-up electricity because of load shedding.

The healthcare system is crippled, with hospitals struggling to maintain critical life-saving equipment in an operational state during power outages. It is true that load shedding is killing people. Small businesses, the backbone of our economy, are suffocating under the pressure of interrupted operations, leading to losses in revenue and potential closures. Students at institutions of high learning are suffering because of inconsistent power supply. Lastly, the tourism sector, which is vital for our nation's income and global reputation, is tarnished, as visitors face the grim reality of a country unable to provide basic utility services. These are the damages of load shedding that they are trying to cover with lies.

The country is facing an unemployment crisis that is now a matter of national security.

As people return to their places of work after holidays, there are more than 11.7 million people who are willing, able, and ready to make a living for themselves, but are excluded from the economy. These are unemployed, dejected, and forgotten people who should be contributing meaningfully to the economy to feed their families. What is even more scary is that we have more than 70% of people between the age of 15 and 34 years of age who cannot find employment, being forced into a life of crime and illegal substance abuse. These are young people condemned to a hell of unemployment as Cyril Ramaphosa made it clear that it is not the intention or obligation of the ANC government to create jobs.

Our people continue to live in spaceless townships and informal settlements in squalor, without clean water and flushing toilets. When we revived the cry for land, for land to build houses, build schools, churches, factories, and farms, this cry was once more hijacked. We tabled a motion for Parliament to start a process to amend Section 25 of the Constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation into the custody of the state. That process was hijacked. Despite hundreds of submissions that made a concrete call for expropriation of all land without compensation, Whites continue to own 72% of total farms and agricultural land while black Africans only own 4%. This is the reason why they don't want to amend the constitution.

The South African Police Services has completely collapsed, leaving our people on their own; there is nothing between them and criminals. In the last calendar year, more than 27 ,494 people were murdered, this figure increased by more than 2000 murders compared to the previous year. Already in the first and the second quarter of the current year, more than 13,000 people have already been murdered. These numbers are higher than those in some declared civil war zones.

The number of sexual offences, number of attempted murder, the number of assault, common assault, robbery, and contact crimes have gone up in the last quarter. In the last quarterly report, which covers the period of July and September 2023, there were 6 945 murders, there were 3 733 kidnappings and 10 516 cases of rape were reported.

This is all in three months. Women and girl-children are continuously found raped and killed in a brutal manner in our communities, while nothing is being done to ensure perpetrators suffer harshly for their crimes. Criminals are now even robbing police stations and the police are working with drug dealers and politicians.

Our roads are in a complete state of disaster. Potholes cost millions of Rands due to damages. Hundreds of our people are dying on these roads. These are avoidable deaths. Hospitals are dilapidated and many of them are in a state of complete disaster.

Municipal buildings are an embarrassment; it is as if there are no adults who work there. There is just a general decay and dilapidation of social and economic infrastructure everywhere you go. Water infrastructure is dilapidated; we lose billions of water in leaks while our people do not have clean, dependable and drinkable water and must share water with animals. There is no practical and believable plan to address the water crisis in South Africa. While the infrastructure continues to collapse, the National Treasury continues to propose and implement budget cuts with every opportunity.

Many of our communities are still without water. Despite the numerical and superficial statistics presented on the access to water, South Africa faces a huge crisis of water provision and access. Water is important for human life and water is important for everything we do on a daily basis.

We therefore take this opportunity as the Economic Freedom Fighters to resonate the voices of the waterless communities, districts, Municipalities, Townships, Informal Settlements and Villages. We do so because everywhere we go, our people are complaining about access to water and they correctly say that their voices are not heard and resonated in Parliament despite the fact that this institution is supposed to express the interests of our people.

We are here to resonate the cries of the people of Umhlabauyalingana, Emchibini (Jozini), Mtubatuba and Big Five Hlabisa in Umkhanyakude do not have water despite the huge Jozini Dam which both the ANC and IFP governments are failing to reticulate water from. We know that all the 61 Wards of Mzinyathi District, UMSinga, Nquthu, Endumeni and Umvoti have a huge crisis of water and there is no solution if those who are government in those municipalities remain in power.

Much of the problems we are confronted with is because of the incapable state that has completely collapsed, especially at local government. The majority of municipalities have collapsed and cannot do even the most basic things. Many of the municipalities cannot fix sewer spillage, cannot collect refuse, cannot cut grass, cannot fix potholes and all they remain is to pay for salaries. We have young recently graduated doctors and teachers who were funded by the very same state but today they are told that there are no teaching jobs and there is no money to pay for doctors when there are hospitals and clinics who do not have doctors today. Our nation is in a crisis and must be rescued as a matter of urgency.

As they await their results, the EFF wishes all matriculants well following the 2023 examination cycle. We call on all communities to celebrate those who have done well, and encourage those who may not perform at desired levels to improve their results and never stop pursuing education. A negative outcome in matric results is not a death sentence, but an opportunity to further emphasize the importance of applying yourself when it comes to education.

We call on all matriculants to pursue post-matric qualifications at Universities, Universities of Technology and TVET Colleges in order to better themselves and equip themselves to make a contribution in South Africa's future. The EFF Students' Command will once again embark on the Sizofunda Ngenkani Campaign, and ensure that across all institutions of higher learning no student is denied access to education due to lack of affordability.

We take this opportunity to send our condolences to the President of the EFF Students' Command, Commissar Sihle Lonzi, who was befallen by a tragedy this festive season that has seen four members of his family die after a car accident, and one still in hospital in critical condition. This tragedy that has befallen a young leader of our organization who has committed himself to the struggles of the youth requires all of us to rally behind him, and we encourage all leaders particularly those in the Western Cape to show him our support.

As the EFF Students Command embarks on the Sizofunda Ngenkani Campaign, the dire state of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) demands a radical youth that will fight tirelessly for the doors of learning to be open for all. As things stand NSFAS is crippled by a RI 3 billion budget cut by Treasury, confirming once again that the ANC government sees no value in education. Further to this, the EFF is affirmed in our long-held view that at the centre of the collapse of the Higher Education Sector is Blade Nzimande, who has now been exposed through leaked voice recordings for having secret meetings with service providers, who have allegedly donated more than R1 million to the SACP during his tenure as its General Secretary. Nzimande has been anti-students ever since he was placed in that Department for factional reasons, and has established it as his personal wallet which he uses to practice patronage and enrich himself. Blade Nzimande Must Resign And He Must Resign Now!

We as the EFF want to assure the people of South Africa that we are here to rescue South Africa from high levels of incompetence, directionlessness and incapability of the sitting government. The 30 years of the ANC's rule has proven beyond any doubt that the former liberation has no ideological, political, moral and technical capacity to rescue South Africa from perpetual decline and decay. We remain as the only organisation that in our 10 years of existence have demonstrated true commitment to finding permanent solutions to the crises confronting our country.

As a result, we call on Cyril Ramaphosa to immediately announce the election date for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections, as there is no logical or reasonable excuse to prolong this announcement any longer. Ramaphosa must accept that his term that has been defined by failure has come to an end, and give the nation a firm election date so it can prepare itself for a future that does not include him.

On the 03rd and 4th of February 2024, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) will hold its second voter registration weekend, and the EFF encourages all unregistered South Africans to register to vote, and for those who have voted before, to check if they still appear on the voter's roll. The 2024 Elections represent a massive opportunity for change and the upliftment of the lives of South Africans, and to not be registered to vote, is tantamount to a betrayal of one's duty as a citizen. The youth must rise to the challenge, and prove all of those who say they are not interested in politics wrong, by coming out and registering to vote just like they did in the first voter registration weekend. The option to register online remains open until the proclamation of the election date is made, so voter registration is in fact open every day. All South Africans are encouraged to visit the IEC website, check their voting status, and for those who are not registered, you can register to vote online.

We will on the 10th of February 2024 unveil a detailed Ready to Govern programme, which is our Manifesto for the 2024 Elections. Like all our previous Manifestos, our 2024 Manifesto is not a document of promises, but real and realisable commitments.

We do not make empty promises in the EFF. We make solid, sound and scientifically proven and based commitments. That's who we are and that's what we represent. We will reveal on the 10th of February that we are the only organisation that has a tangible plan to end load shedding and bring back stability of electricity supply in South Africa. We are the only organisation that will reveal the fact that we will prioritize water provision to all our communities. We are the only organisation with a concrete plan for land redistribution to all our people. We are the only organisation that will bring jobs to our people. We are the organisation that will bring free quality education, healthcare and sanitation for all.

We therefore take this opportunity to invite all the people of KwaZulu Natal to come and attend the launch of our Manifesto, the People's Manifesto on the 10th of February 2024 here at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. All Wards in the province of KwaZulu Natal and all the Voting Districts here in eThekwini will be provided with safe and reliable transport to attend the rally. We can confirm today that we already have received more than 50 000 confirmations of people who will attend the rally and we will continue to
invite more and more people.

EFF programmes as demonstrated in the 2023 10th Anniversary programmes and activities are always solid and sound programmes and everyone who attends would have attended a solid and historical political programme.

Issued by Sinawo Thambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 5 January 2024