EFF leader Julius Malema says his party will outdo itself in this year’s local government elections. He was speaking in Moletjie outside Polokwane in Limpopo where he introduced candidates who will contest wards in the Polokwane Local Municipality.
The EFF took South Africa’s political landscape by surprise with its rather gallant performance in the 2016 local government elections. The party garnered enough votes to be king makers and form coalitions with other parties.
The EFF garnered over 16 percent of the overall votes in Limpopo during the 2016 local government elections. The party also won 27 percent of the votes under the Polokwane Local Municipality. Malema says the 2016 local government elections were a learning curve for them.
Malema campaigns in Moletjie outside Polokwane:
“We are more well experienced now, we did not know, then remember 2014 national government election then local government election you are grappling with understanding parliamentary politics and now you have to choose candidates that are appealing and they come from where the people are. So all of that is well experienced now and we are coming here with men and women of integrity, I mean you saw when they stood up here they are welcoming them, they are happy to see them,” Malema says.
Malema is confident that the EFF will out-perform its 2016 local government elections showing.
The EFF garnered a total of 190 seats across all councils in the province. This was the highest percentage of voter support and council seats the party obtained during any election. He says the aim is to rule all Limpopo municipalities this time around, as a precursor to their performance in the next national and provincial election.
“We are targeting areas where we didn’t perform well. We are putting pressure groups, we are putting much effort, all the resources are deployed there because it is important that we shake the whole of Limpopo, remember, Limpopo is the biggest feeder of the ANC nationally, and that base must be tampered with if we are serious about making serious inroads in 2024. We are not shaken by lots of independents and other small parties, it’s an internal ANC problem, they all come from the ANC, the ANC must be shaken,” Malema added.
Malema also promised the people of Moletjie municipal jobs, saying his party would do away with the out-sourcing of services within municipalities should it win the election.
“We don’t want cleaners, maintenance workers, security personnel and other general workers who are hired by private companies in our municipalities. We want to take over all the municipalities in Capricorn, all we ask is that you vote for us so we can bring employment. We want to work with all the herdsmen and the entire community.”
Malema also took his campaign to Mankweng.
