Johnathan Paoli
EFF CIC Julius Malema said there is a drastic need for preparation, in light of the historical unpreparedness of the ANC and the dire situation they have led the country into during the last three decades.
Malema said this at the EFF Elections Workshop 2023, on Thursday, at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference Centre, Ekurhuleni.
The Workshop was conducted in preparation for the upcoming 2024 elections and to discuss and consider inputs surrounding the strategies of the party’s election structures.
It comes after the preparations by the red berets across the country, including their 3rd Provincial People’s Assembly Of The North West, which was held on Saturday, which stressed the importance of being committed to South Africa’s communities and supporting communities wherever possible.
Malema said that while winning elections was a priority to the party, the need for being ready to govern remains of fundamental importance in the path forward.
“The day after victory will be the true proof as to whether our victory was not based on opportunism and personal desire, but a genuine interest in uplifting the lives of ordinary poor people,” Malema said.
Malema said that there was a need to draw lessons from the unpreparedness of those who came before, from the poverty of development from within the former liberation movements of Africa, and it is these lessons that will make the party a viable post-colonial alternative.
Referencing Frantz Fanon’s concept of the Pitfalls of National Consciousness, Malema said that it is the lack of planning for the day after victory, that leads to an infantile and underdeveloped class of politicians assuming political power, not knowing what to do with after the day of victory.
Citing the recent tragedy in Marshalltown, Malema said now because it suited the ANC, they have betrayed their NGO allies, who have failed to hold them accountable for issues such as the sealing of the CR17 documents, the Phala Phala farm saga and the overall failing presidency of Ramaphosa.
The CIC said the EFF must be able to articulate the domestic conditions of South Africa, of collapsing infrastructure, lack of electricity, lack of water, lack of housing and the rising cost of living, must be blamed on a ruling party that was never prepared to govern in the first place.
“The ruling party in South Africa is attempting to play a delicate balance between being proud to have governed since 1994, while at the same time being so ashamed of its failures, that they depict themselves as victims of the system,” Malema said.
Malema further criticised the government saying that the SOEs are being privatised by an unaccountable ;Minister of Private Enterprises’ , referring to Minister Pravin Gordhan and claiming that his recent medical leave was nothing but an attempt at avoiding facing the music.
“We must articulate this to our people, who suffer chronic load shedding and lack of affordable transport, because a group of individuals are selling our nation’s assets such as ESKOM and Transnet to the highest bidder,” the EFF leader said.
Malema further stressed the need for education, saying that EFF leaders need to be educated to occupy the highest level of legislative, judicial and executive power.
“We need you to be educated, to be professional, so that we do not self-sabotage like outgoing ruling parties, and have our own enemies telling us what can be done and what cannot be done at the level of policy,” he said.
The leader reiterated that the party would refuse to allow its government to be held ransom by an established clique in the corridors of the state, but in order to prevent this, capacity building is required to create an effective, socialist and educated civil servant.
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